Depot Veil
by monbade
Summary: Out in the Hyperion Nebula sits one of the Colonial Reserve ship storage stations. Newly promoted Admiral Moiré Hays has assumed command of her new post that is still being wracked by scandal. She tries to restore the posts honor while the enemy gathers
1. Chapter 0

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**Depot Veil**

**Prologue**

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**Two years before the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Station Veil;**

Forty-three year old Admiral Moiré Hays sat in her seat as her raptor slowly flew towards the massive station known as _Veil One_ which was hidden deep in the Hyperion Nebula. Moiré set the pad of papers to the side and looked out the front of the ship as they passed by four giant Battlestars that were parked next to each other, and next to the station. Each of the Battlestars was over twice the length of a _Nova_ class and had been built just after the war had ended with the Cylons. She knew that further back in the depot were another three of the mighty _Titan_ class ships along with fifty other warships of the reserve fleet. Most were Gunstars, but a few Warstars were docked in static formation along with some Firestarsfrigates_._ On the other side of the depot were the support ships and repair ships as well as a few civilian ships deemed to valuable to be left at the civilian depots like the three five hundred meter long twenty-four domed _Argo_ ships that supplied some of the food for the roughly twenty thousand crew of the depots. There were also over two hundred other ships in various states being dismantled at the recycling yards.

She knew that further into the nebula depot were three massive mining facilities run by civilian crews that lived in the smaller _Veil Two_ station. The mining facilities supplied all the fuel, water and minerals that were used in the depot to keep the ships in reserve status. Guarding the entrance channel were thirteen PDWs of the Veil defense forces along with two static _Columbia_ Battlestars. The old _Caprica_ and _Virgon_ served as viper response stations while her main guns were always trained on the channel to stop any unauthorized ship from entering the zone.

Looking out at her new command, she was amazed by its size. She was assuming command of the Depot because the former commander and his aides had been arrested for not doing their jobs. Basically that was keeping the reserve ships barely up to par for quick deployment and embezzling funds.

"Ma'am, we're landing in five minutes. Commander Torrez reports they are ready for the change of command on the main landing deck," the pilot reported from her station.

"Thank you, notify Commander Torrez on our ETA and the change of command venue," Moiré replied as she sat back down in her chair and picked up her papers.

Five minutes later the raptor settled onto one of the landing platforms of the station and gave a lurch as it was lowered into the bay. The astrosphere was quickly replaced as a tow truck dragged the twenty ton machine into the hanger. As the ship came to a stop, a red carpet was rolled out to the side of the ship. The hatch popped loose and rose up to its maximum height as Admiral Hays stood up and walked to the hatch. Looking out, she saw the rows of marines standing at attention. In front of them were five officers wearing the colonial fleet uniform.

Moiré looked at the officers as she walked towards them. The one in the center was Commander Mark Torrez, the temporary commander of Veil station. To his right was a colonial marine wearing the rank of Colonel. To his right was a colonial medical officer. To the left of Commander Torrez were two female officers. One had flight wings on her collar along with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. The other had the rank of Sergeant Major and was wearing battle fatigues.

Walking down the wing, she headed towards them as a voice came over the loudspeakers.

"Commander Station Veil, arriving."

"Permission to come aboard, Sir?" she asked.

"Permission granted, Ma'am," came the reply.

Coming to a stop in front of the five officers, she said, "Admiral Moiré Hays reporting to assume command of Veil Depot."

"Welcome aboard Admiral. I'm Commander Mathew Torrez temporary commander of Veil Depot. I relinquish command to you," Torrez replied.

"Thank you Commander. Please introduce me to your officers."

"Ma'am, to my right is Colonel Josh Mallard of the Colonial Marines. He is in charge of the two thousand marines in the Depot for security. To his right are Doctor Elizabeth Myers of the medical core and commanding officer of the medical ship _Hope._ To my left is Lieutenant Commander Isis Hamilton who commands the small craft of the depot. And to her left is Sergeant-major Erik Ways commanding officer of the station police force. We were all brought in by Admiral Corman as temporary officers as we looked over the evidence that was gathered against Admiral Myers and his staff. We're at your command."

"Well, guide me to the CIC so I can assume command officially," Moiré ordered.

"Right this way, Admiral," Commander Torrez said as he turned and led her to the main elevator.

As they stepped in to the elevator she heard the marines being dismissed behind her. "What's the condition of the reserve fleet?" she asked as the doors closed.

"Ma'am the reserve fleet is a mess. The Battlestars _Caprica_ and _Virgon_ are on static placement because their engines have been partially dismantled. Now the nightmares are the _Titans._ The Battlestar _Titan_ is at sixty-five percent combat ready. The _Coeus,_ and the _Cronus,_ are at fifty percent ready while the _Crius_ is at thirty-five percent. The _Leto_ and _Asteria_ are at twenty percent each while the _Menoetius_ is just the shell of the ship at fifteen percent. The _Titan_ has a supplemental crew of fourteen hundred on board while the _Coeus,_ and the _Cronus,_ have less than six hundred each. The _Crius_ has two hundred onboard to monitor her engines and life support. The remaining _Titans _have no crew."

"Frak! Ok, how about the Gunstars_?"_

"We have twenty-three Gunstars in the reserve fleet. At this time, each has a core crew of one hundred and twenty onboard. The Warstars have two hundred and fifty each and there are seven of them here. They are of the _Thor_ class, and are the _Pan, Tyche, Rhode, Peitho, Eunomia, Hermaphroditus_ and the _Eros_. The Gunstars I cannot remember all the names but I know of the twenty-three there are four different classes. They are the _Alberio, Sterope, _and_ Defender_ which is a downgraded version of the _Guardian_ as well as three old _Guardians'._ We have nine Assaultstars or Marinestars as they are called by the marines as well. We have three of each of the _Harriers, Aethon_ and_ Pyrois_ classes. The rest of the fifty reserve ships are Firestars. Five are type I's and the remaining ones are type II's. Each of the Gunstars has a core crew of forty out of a complement of five hundred. The Assaultstars are being crewed by some of Colonel Mallard's marines while the Firestars have thirty crewmembers each. All the Gunstars_, _Firestars and Warstarsare under the command of a Lieutenant or Ensign with orders to start repairs on their commands."

"Lieutenant Commander Hamilton, status of our small craft and types?" Moiré asked.

"The _Caprica_ and _Virgon_ have four squadrons of Mark VI vipers on the as well as four MK III Raptors each_._ On Veil One we have eight squadrons of VI, while in the storage depot we have ten squadrons of VI, five squadrons of V, and four of IV. As you know, each squadron is twenty fighters each. The _Titan_ has forty squadrons or eight hundred Mk V's and ninety MK3 Raptors on board which is still below her complement of eleven hundred Vipers and one hundred and twenty Raptors they also only have fifty pilots for the Vipers and ten crews for the Raptors. The _Coeus_ and the _Cronus_ have two hundred Mark IV's each and forty MK 2 Raptors with only five Raptor crews and no Viper pilots. We have eighty MK 2 and seventy MK 3 Raptors in flight status around the system and five hundred and ninety of the MK 1, 2 and 3 in storage. We just took delivery of our first MK 4's and that was thirty of them from Caprica. There are fifty shuttles around the depot as well as forty refulers. Of the refulers, twenty are in storage with twenty more on back order from Caprica shipping. We have sixty-three heavy lifters as well with an order of forty more from Tyco manufacturing. Twenty-two of the Heavy lifters are currently down for maintenance. There are fifteen _Hades_ marine drop ships aboard the Assaultstars_._ There are two Stealthstars as well, but both are down for maintenance work to their composite hulls. We have nine fleet tugs of the _Octopus_ class working around the dismantling stations moving the derelicts to the smelter station or the reclining station," Commander Hamilton reported.

"Medical situation," Moiré said as Commander Hamilton stepped back from her.

"Medical is running smoothly at this time. All supplies are fully topped off on the stations and the _Hope_. Currently there are fifteen civilians in the Veil Two station. Twenty-four in Veil One and five new mothers onboard the _Hope._ I have seventy doctors for various medical fields under my command as well as two hundred interns. We have ninety-eight nurses with seventy more under training. The medical support ship _Guardian of Life_ is due to arrive with more supplies in two weeks, which should top off both stations and the _Hope._ All three blood banks are finishing up blood drives to bring the three medical stations up to full capacity at this time, Doctor Myers reported.

"Colonel Mallard what is the status of your Marine contingent?" Moiré asked as she looked at the elevator panel and saw they had seven more levels to go.

"Ma'am, as Commander Torrez reported I have two hundred marines on each of the _Assaultsta_rs as crew, except for the _Pyrois_ on which I have two thousand. Each of the Gunstars has ten men each, while the Warstars have twenty-five. I deployed ten as well to the Firestars. On the _Titans_ I have four hundred on each of the nearby _Titans_ and one hundred on the rest except for the _Menoetius_ which is just the shell of a ship, along with her engines. _Veil One_ has six hundred marines while _Veil Two_ has two hundred. I have fifty marines over on the Recycling Yards and with ten more deployed to _Refinery One._ I am expecting four hundred new recruits within the next two months and have fifty being rotated out back to Picon for reassignment," Commander Mallard reported.

"Commander Torrez what about the repair ships? What is their status?" Moiré asked as the elevator came to a stop and they stepped out into a long hallway with dozens of doors.

"As you know Admiral Nagala sent us some repair ships when he found out the condition of the reserve fleet. We have two _Leviathan_ class repair ships and six of the twelve _Hephasetus_ Constructstars at this time. Each ship is fully manned with a full crew and repair staff. Two of the _Hephasetus_ are being redeployed to BG 12 to replace two of the mobile docks that are being retired. We should be getting the docks in the next ten to twelve months, depending on how long it takes to finish their current jobs. As soon as their current job is finished, the Constructstars will be rotated out, as long as they are not working on anything important."

Moiré's lips narrowed as she started thinking on how to use the repair ships and then she ordered, "Have one of the _Leviathan's_ move to the _Titan _and start bringing her back up to full operational status. The second is to start work on the _Coeus._ One of the _Hephasetus's_ is to start work on the _Cronus_, while the rest of the _Hephasetus_ ships start working on the Gunstars and Warstars_._ Admiral Nagala and Corman want the reserve fleet back up to par within two years. Also, see if the _Leviathans_ can send some work crews to the _Caprica_ and _Virgon_ and get their engine rooms repaired. They shouldn't be in a static dock to defend the tunnel. Ships that stay in one place die there. Once we get some Warstars back in operation we'll designate them as the tunnel guards and pull the _Caprica_ and _Virgon_ back behind them to provide a cap for them. Have the _Leviathans_ start building two new PDWs to be deployed near the tunnel for additional backup. Primary weapons will be light KEWs with a minimum anti-fighter/missile defense. Once the two PDWs are built have them start producing tunneling satellites to build two escape tunnels on the back side of the nebula and I want a second chamber created, where the restored reserve ships will be moved to."

"Ma'am, where are we going to get the crews for the ships?" Commander Torrez asked.

"Let's wait until we get into the conference room off the CIC before I explain what is going on," Moiré said as she stopped outside of a pair of armored doors with two marines standing guard.

Checking her uniform, she nodded to the marines who opened the door. Stepping inside she heard one of the marines follower them in.

"Officer on deck!" came the marines shout.

"As you were, everyone," Moiré said as she looked around the massive room.

There were over fifty people working the room. They manned communication stations, dradis, security and many others that she would come to know as the months went by. Walking to the main dradis board, she pulled a handset off of the side and flipped the switch to 'station wide.'

"Attention Veil One, this is Admiral Moiré Hays speaking. As of ten minutes ago I have assumed command of Depot Veil and all its assets. Assets that I'm disappointed in and so is the Admiralty. Ships that should be ready to be deployed in thirty days are now months and years away from full status. The Admiralty has given me two years to get the reserve back up to what it's supposed to be. So, our first order of business, is all of the _Titan_ Battlestars, the _Caprica_ and _Virgon_, the Gunstars, and the Warstars; in that order, or close to it, for ship repairs. We will also be expanding the air wing to full capacity and working on Search and Rescue drills. We will also be getting about forty other ships from other depots to restore along with another one hundred that have been classified to be recycled for parts and dismantling. If you were part of the problem from before, don't try it under me. This is your only warning. I don't like thieves and thievery is what was happing before I took command. So at this time I, Admiral Moiré Hays by the orders of Colonial Fleet command under Fleet Admirals Nagala and Corman do assume command of Veil Depot. So says we all," Moiré said as she released the handset and hung it back up.

"Welcome to your command, Admiral," Commander Torrez said as he saluted his superior officer.

"Thank you, Commander. Now how about a conference room for all of us," Moiré asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. Right this way," Commander Torrez replied as he led his boss out of the CIC and across the hall. He opened the door and stepped to the side, "After you, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Commander," Moiré said as she stepped into the forty by forty foot, square room. It had a large table in it, and stacked at one end of the table were several folders placed in front of six chairs. Nearby, on a small table, was a coffee maker with fresh coffee. Behind the head seat, the blast window shield had been raised up, showing the Battlestar _Titan_ in all her light glory.

"Coffee, Ma'am?" Commander Torrez asked as everyone took a seat.

"Please. Black," Moiré replied as she sat down at the head of the table and softly sighed as she looked at the dozen stacks of folders.

Moiré took a sip of her coffee as Commander Torrez passed cups around to her fellow command staff. Looking once more at the first stack she pulled the first file to her.

Commander Torrez sat down and said, "You were saying about crew?"

"Yes. I was in meetings with Admiral Nagala and Corman for three days before I shipped out. We will be getting an addition ten thousand Colonial fleet crewmembers, and two thousand marines, to help man the ships. I know it won't bring them up to full strength, but they will help. The problem is: the _Titans._ With a crew of twelve thousand each, it would be a nightmare to man all of them. It's amazing that at the cost of each ship, they built ten of them, even if only seven are here at this yard. I did ask Admiral Corman about the _Eos, Helios,_ and _Selene_. He says he wants to transfer them from Virgon Depot, but it will take some time, because all three are in inactive reserve: meaning they have no crew on board. Admiral Corman wants all ten at the same location. Since we're secure, here, Nagala and he figure this would be the best place."

"By the Lords of Kobold! That's a hundred and twenty thousand crewmembers just right there… not counting the escorts," Torrez blurted out.

"I know, and if we get a third of that, we'll be lucky. We will also be getting the fourth and fifth year midshipmen's from Picon and Caprica Academies for summer training on fleet protocol in three months. The cadets will spend eight weeks here and then return home for one month of leave before the fifth years are deployed and the fourth advance to fifth year. Admiral Nagala wants the new recruits to get some ship time. By sending them to us, we'll get some more warm bodies, and they will get some training on the _Virgon_ and _Caprica_ as well as the _Titan_ when we finish her repairs. Some of them will be going on to Viper and Raptor training schools, so we can start them on their training there, as well. Commander Torrez, make sure we have enough supplies on hand for the addition six thousand recruits and possibly up to eight thousand if we can get the recruits from Virgon Academy."

"I'll get on it right away."

"Thank you," Moiré said, and turned. "Commander Hamilton, check with the other depots and find out if they have any stored Vipers and Raptors. If they do, get with one of the Viper ferries and get them out here. We're going to need at least four thousand more Vipers to get the _Titans_ up to full strength.

"Ok, next item: supplies!" Moiré said as she pulled out a new folder.

**Special Notes**

Ship classes mentioned can be found on my info page.

I am still recovering from surgery and trying to get back into writing. I am working on my other stories but they are hen and peck as I try and get back into them.

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Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By TeNdErLoin**_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	2. Chapter 1

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter One**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**14 months before the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Station Veil;**

Admiral Moiré Hays looked up from the report she was reading at the sound of her intercom buzzing. Setting the paper down she hit the button on her desk, "Yes."

"Ma'am Commander Torrez to see you," replied her secretary.

"Thank you Lieutenant Harris. Please send him in," Moiré replied.

The door slip open and Commander Torrez stepped into the room with a stack of folders in his left hand.

"What can I do for you Mathew?" she asked.

"Ma'am, I have the monthly Veil reports for you," Mathew replied.

"Take a seat and we'll go over them," Moiré said as she held out her hand to accept the folders.

"Yes, Ma'am," Mathew replied as he set the folders down and then handed her half of them. Sitting down he opened the first one and said, "Let's go over the _Caprica_ and _Virgon_ first."

'Sound good. Status of the _Caprica?"_

"The _Caprica _has been fully repaired. The last of her Viper catapults have been repaired and the last three had been down because of wear have been replaced with new ones manufactured by the repair ships. Her engines have been overhauled as well as her FTL drive. Her point defense has been upgraded to the mark two defense grid and her main batteries have been refurnished. She has a full complement of Mark VI vipers and six Mk 3 Raptors. Lieutenant Commander Hamilton has also assigned six heavy lifters and four refuling tankers to her. She is still unnetworked as Admiral Nagala ordered and we tried installing the new CNP program but it wouldn't take with the older computer systems. If you want we can rip the computers out and install modern ones, but it's a six month job with just the fiber optics alone. She has a crew of two thousand four hundred out of three thousand. She is fully stocked with munitions including twelve Mark three nuclear missiles for ship to ship combat," Mathew reported.

"No, let's leave her with the old CNP program. We don't want her down at this time. And the _Virgon?_" Moiré asked.

"The Virgon is at ninety percent repaired. They are still having problems with the FTL drive. She is fully restored in weapons and strike capacity but the FTL drive is being temperamental. Chief engineer Lieutenant Bryant thinks we may need to pull the whole drive and install a new one. A four week job at least. The _Virgon_ has the same small flight units as the _Caprica _and her crew complement is two thousand at this time."

"That's good, hold off on the FTL, have them keep trying to repair her. It's not like she is going out on fleet maneuvers. Status of the _Titans?"_ Moiré said as she changed folders.

"Yes, the _Titans._ Well the _Titan_ is at ninety percent complete. They are adding the last of the armor back to her stern section. The slow part has been manufacturing the missing armor plates. They have tested her engines and all systems and they are working at one hundred percent. She now has a full complement of Vipers and Raptors, which is eleven hundred and twenty Mark V Vipers, and one hundred and twenty Mk 3 Raptors. Also assigned to her are forty heavy lifters, thirty shuttles, and twenty refulers. We have forty-nine hundred crew on board the _Titan_ and one thousand of the Cadets for the next month before they cycle home. We have had two hundred of the fifth year cadets ask to be assigned to the old girl or to the Depot. I have forward their request to Admiral Nagala for consideration

"Now the _Coeus,_ and the _Cronus,_ are at seventy percent ready. The _Coeus _still needs her port landing bay to be finished and her starboard light KEWs still need to be reinstalled. There are three hundred Mark IV Vipers in her starboard landing bay along with sixty MK II Raptors. There are ten heavy lifters, five refulers and fifteen shuttles as well. There are two thousand crew and five hundred cadets on board.

"The _Cronus_ needs both her landing bays launch system restored and her forward heavy KEWs are being worked on at this time. She two hundred Mark IV's each and forty MK 2 Raptors. No heavy lifters, but ten refulers and twelve shuttles. They also need to finish a lot of the interior compartments that were stripped of parts like doors, beds, sinks etc.

"The _Crius_ has been brought up to around fifty percent combat ready. Her point defense and main batteries have been restored but she is missing a lot of armor plate. Her interior systems have been restored as well as her starboard flight bays. They are still working on her engines to find the problem in her energizers. Her port flight pod has a twenty foot hole in it where that blew out when the hull buckled in the atmospheric test last month. We have thirty five hundred on board her working double shifts to complete the interior compartments.

"_Leto_ and _Asteria_ we haven't done much with but working on their armor, engines and CIC. I estimate both have been brought back to thirty-five percent capacity and we now have a thousand crew on board. Still no small craft but a dozen MK II Raptors have been ordered to her as soon as they pilots finish their familiarity.

"Now for the nightmare and that's the _Menoetius_ which has been heavily stripped. She has no main guns, no point defense; her landing bays have been stripped as well. Even the gravity deck plates on the port bay are gone. We have repaired her energizers and her engines as well as her CIC. Her armor has been stripped from the bow to just before the landing bays. Every compartment inside the ship has been gutted. Life support has been restored along with medical; in fact with the stripping of the rooms we've increased the medical bay by fifty percent. Currently we have five MK IV Raptors in the starboard bay along with two construction shuttles. I have two hundred assigned to the ship permanently and one hundred cadets learning how to rewire her system."

"Hold off on the Menoetius until after Admiral Nagala and Corman's visit. I have an idea for her but need to run it by them first," Moiré ordered as she closed the folder and set it to the side. Picking up the folder that said Warstars she opened it, "Now what about the Warstars?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Mathew replied as he closed the folder and opened the Warstars one, "Now on the Warstars. As you know we have seven of the old Thor class. The _Pan_ and _Tyche_ have been restored to full strength and stationed near the tunnel entrance which allowed the _Capric_a and _Virgon_ to be pulled back to cover them. Currently both ships have eight hundred colonial personal on board as they finish up the interior work. _Rhode, Peitho, _and _Eunomia_ have been brought up to ninety percent combat strength. We ran out of heavy guns and are waiting for the foundry ships to deliver the last of them, which the foundry ship says we'll have them in three months if they don't run out of supplies. They also need some minor armor repairs and will be moved into the _Leviathan_ dock when she finished the repairs on the two Gunstars that she is currently working on. The _Hermaphroditus_ and the _Eros_ are at around fifty percent combat ready. Both need their engines and FTL drives restored and they are missing over eighty percent of their heavy armament each. Their point defense has been stripped to the bone as well…"

"I have an idea. What if we pull the remaining guns from _Hermaphroditus_ and the _Eros_ and send them to the _Rhode, Peitho, _and _Eunomia_ and have them installed in them, that way we can get them ready before the inspection," Moiré asked.

"I will get with the commanders of the repair ships and let them know your suggestion. I don't see why it wouldn't work. When are Admiral Corman and Nagala due to arrive?"

"In ninety days and they'll be here for fifteen days looking everything over," Moiré replied as she closed the folder and opened with Gunstars on it, "Now what about the Gunstars?"

"The Gunstars are a mixed bag as you know. We have three _Guardian_ class Gunstars. They are the _Protector, Guardian_ and _Calypso._ All three have been restored and have half their five hundred crew complement. They are on stationed in the back of the Depot near emergency exit one. Each has six MK III Raptors and forty Mark III Vipers. Now the _Alberio_ class we have the following ship, _Glowworm, Griffin, Hunter, Hero, Havock, Hasty, _and the _Hancock_. The _Glowworm Griffin, Hunter_ and _Hero_ are currently being repaired. Two are in the _Leviathan's_ dock while the other two are being worked on by the _Resource_ the remaining three are still in storage waiting to be restored. The first four should be ready in twenty days, the last three we're looking at six months to full activation of all compartments of the ships.

"Now we have seven of the _Sterope_ class. They are the _Fame, Fearless, Firedrake, Fortune, Empress, Drake_ and the _Empire._ Of them the _Empire_ is in the best condition and under repairs now. The rest need major overhauls and the dry docks of the _Leviathans _time to completion is six months. As you know we have some of the _Defender _class as well, and all of them are still in storage waiting for repairs. The best of them are _Daring, Dauntless,_ and the _Diamond._ The remaining three, _Dragon, Defender_, and the _Duncan_ need extensive modifications to bring back on line."

Closing the file, Moiré sat back in her chair and tapped her fingers of her right hand on her desk. "Sounds good so far. Have the _Empire,_ _Daring, Dauntless_ and _Diamond_ moved up the line for repairs. Now what about the Firestars?" Moiré asked.

"Good news there. All the Firestars' have been restored to full active duty and assigned their full crew complement of five hundred crew plus marines and small craft pilots. The Type I's are the following ships, _Intrepid, Impulsive, Desert, Puck, _and _General Alfred Morris._ The remaining Firestars are of the second building and classified as Type II's, and they are the _Cossack, Barents, Harpoon, Battle,_ and _Admiral Tories_. I have stationed them throughout the Depot as mobile security…"

"Red alert, all hands man your battle stations. Admiral Hays and Commander Torrez please report to the CIC."

Moiré had looked up at as the lights changed from pale white to red and the speakers had blared out, "It looks like we're needed in the CIC," she said as she stood up.

"Never a dull day in the Colonial fleet," Mathew replied as they started walking to the door.

Mathew let his boss go first and they quickly exited her office and headed for the elevator that would take them up two decks to the CIC. As the elevator rose to the correct deck they knew that throughout the giant station thousands of crew personal were rushing to their assigned stations. The doors opened and they stepped out onto the CIC deck. Moiré looked around at the command crew and listened into the reports as they were repeated to ranking officers.

"Freighter 272 blew up on approach to Veil Two."

"Shuttle 948 is out of control with her engines on full burn."

"Freighter _Alliance_ is not responding to hails and is still heading towards the tunnel."

"Vipers 839 and 999 from the _Titan_ blew up when they launched from the ship."

"Cargo ship _Hyde_ is requesting permission to exit the Veil."

"Admiral on the deck!"

"Status report, Lieutenant Commander Maryweather you may start with Freighter 272 and work your way down," Moiré ordered as she came to a stop near the Dradis station.

"Freighter 272's engines exploded as they were approaching Veil Two for docking. I have dispatched SAR units to her location along with a heavy lifter to bring any large pieces back to Veil Two so we can examine them for clues on why they exploded," Lieutenant Commander Jessie Maryweather replied.

"Good and shuttle 948? What is wrong and complement," Moiré asked as she found the shuttle on the Dradis board.

"Sir, her main engines are on full burn and the doors to the engine room have locked themselves down. She is heading directly for the edge of the Veil and if she penetrates the wall, they will die within minutes. The ship is carrying forty children and their guardians from civilian quarters on Refinery One to Veil Two for medical checkups…"

"Damn it; dispatch a tug to grab her. Once she is captured send in another shuttle to get the passengers and crew off the ship. I will not have the deaths of children on my conscious," Moiré snapped out as she followed the trail of the ship on the board, "Freighter _Alliance_ is to immediately heave too for inspection. If they don't, the Warstar _Pan_ has permission to disable her and board the ship. Dispatch SAR units to check the debris field of the two Vipers. Has cargo ship Hyde been cleared?"

"SAR units being dispatched…"

"Freighter _Alliance_ is ignoring all hails. Warstar _Pan_ is closing with her and issuing her demands at this time."

"SAR units are approaching freighter 272 and Viper debris fields at this time."

"Cargo ship Hyde is in the channel."

"Ma'am, the freighter _Alliance_ has opened fire on the _Pan,_ ten missiles inbound."

"_Pan_ has opened fire," came the shout from across the CIC.

"Vipers inbound to the _Alliance;_ they're opening fire on her engines. Marine Raptors are following them to board," Lieutenant Commander Isis Hamilton reported from her command station.

"_Alliance_ is entering the tunnel."

"Orders to the _Pan_ and _Tyche_ are to follow…" Moiré was issuing her orders when an explosion ripped through the CIC and she felt herself being lifted up and hurled across the room

.

**Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.**

.

**Ships Mentioned * is at Depot Veil**

**Columbia Class Battlestars**

Caprica *

Virgon *

**.**

**Titan Class Battlestars**

Titan *

Coeus *

Cronus *

Crius *

Leto *

Asteria *

Menoetius *

Eos

Helios

Selene

.

**Warstar class **

**Subclass Thor**

Pan *

Tyche *

Rhode *

Peitho *

Eunomia *

Hermaphroditus *

Eros *

.

**Gunstar Class**

Subclass Guardian

Protector *

Guardian *

Calypso *

.

**Subclass Alberio**

Glowworm *

Griffin *

Hunter *

Hero *

Havock *

Hasty *

Hancock *

.

**Subclass Sterope**

Fame *

Fearless *

Firedrake *

Fortune *

Empress *

Drake *

Empire *

.

**Subclass Defender **

Daring *

Dauntless *

Diamond *

Dragon *

Defender *

Duncan *

.

**Leviathan Mobile Ship yard Class**

Leviathan *

Goliath *

.

**Hephasetus Constructionstar Class**

Hephasetus *

Resource *

Refit *

Repair *

Draftsman *

Renovate *

.

**Firestar Frigates Type I and II**

Type I

Intrepid *

Impulsive *

Desert *

Puck *

General Alfred Morris *

Type II

Cossack *

Barents *

Harpoon *

Battle *

Admiral Tories *

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**Nightingale Class Medstar Meditrina**

Hope *

.

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.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	3. Chapter 2

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Two**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

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.

**.**

**.**

**14 months before the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Station Veil;**

Admiral Moiré Hays hit the bulkhead and collapsed as smoke billowed up from the destroyed communication station. Around the room, the survivors were picking themselves up from where they were thrown. Commander Torrez was the first to reach Moiré and he gently rolled her onto her back. She had blood running down the side of her head where she had hit the wall, and her left arm was bent in the wrong angle. She was unconscious but seemed to be breathing ok.

"Get medical up here. Admiral Hays is hurt, check everyone else," Commander Torrez shouted and then added, "Turn the lights back on and shut that siren off. Get me a status report. I want to know what is happening yesterday."

The replied of 'Yes, Sir,' and 'right away, Sir,' came from all over the room as the station crew started checking the injuries and damages.

Mathew turned back to the darkened dradis board and snarled out, "Get me my dradis back up and running."

"Working on it, Sir," came from underneath the station.

Mathew heard the blast doors open and medics rushed into the room followed by some of the JAG command. He pointed to Admiral Hays and said, "Get Admiral Hays to medical and checked out."

The medics quickly transfer the wounded to stretchers and rush them out of the room as several members of the JAG Corps start taking pictured and examining the destroyed communications station for clues.

"Sir, Warstar _Pan_ reports they have suffered an explosion in their engine room. The report the main energizer is down. _Tyche _is taking up the chase and launching more Vipers and Raptors. _Alliance_ has entered the tunnel and heading out of the nebula. Vipers are trying to take out her engines but she is heavily defended with point defense weapon… Sir, _Alliance_ has come to a stop; a raptor put two missiles into her main engine. Raptors are closing with the ship now…"

"Tell the Raptors to be careful. I don't need dead marines," Mathew ordered.

"Yes, Sir… Damn it, _Alliance_ has blown up. Raptor 37899 says it looks like a demolition charge."

"Dispatch some of the heavy lifters. I want them to go through the remains and get me some clues on what the hell is going…"

"Sir, Admiral Hays is awake and wanting a sitrep," came the shout from across the room.

"Put her on line three," Mathew ordered as he picked up the handset mounted to the Dradis table, "Admiral."

"What happened?" Moiré asked.

"Ma'am, the CIC was sabotaged along with the _Pan. Pan_ has suffered a detonation in her engineering section that destroyed her primary energizer. The bomb that exploded here in the CIC took out the communications station, and several nearby systems. We have seven dead, eighteen wounded counting yourself."

"What about that fraking freighter?" Moiré asked and then hissed in pain.

"Ma'am, itself destructed. I have heavy lifters gathering up the debris field so the JAG Corps can go through it and see what they can find out," Mathew replied as another hiss came through the handset.

"Damn it be careful!" came through the handset.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" Mathew asked.

"Yes… or I will be. Bring up security in the Veil to level three. I want all outgoing ships searched before they reach the final marker. That freighter was carrying something out of here that they didn't want us to know about. Also see where she was docked, who loaded her and how many times she been here and who owns her. Doctor Myers wants me to hang up now. You have the con and get me my answers," Moiré ordered as the handset went dead.

Mathew hung the handset up and looked around the damaged CIC. Shaking his head at the loss of life he started issuing Admiral Hays' orders and watched as the crew jumped to their assigned duties as repair crews came in with replacement screens and components to repair the damage. The hours flew by as he listened to the reports coming in from Depot Two, Refinery One, and the heavy lifters carrying the debris back to the station and the medical updates on the wounded. By five, he had an idea of what was going on, and a possible link on who did the damage thanks to some clues recovered from the wreckage of the freighter.

.

1*1*1*1

.

Three days after the destruction of the Freighter _Alliance _and the explosions in the _Pan_ and Veil One found Commander Mathew Torrez sitting at his desk going over the reports that had been delivered by the various heads of the station. He had taped dozens of pictures to the blackboard he had brought in next to his desk with notes written under each picture. He was currently going over the damage report to the _Pan_ when the door to his office opened. Looking up, he stood up and saluted, "Admiral, how are you feeling? Please have a seat."

"Like I was kicked by my horse on Caprica. Speaking of which, what's the status of getting my three horses over to one of the live stock domes?" as she sat down.

"They are in route at this time. They should be here in five days. Now did Doctor Myers release you or did you release yourself?" Mathew asked.

"She released me. Now what have you found?"

"I think S.F.M. did the attack. Forensics found thirty light KEW mounts in the forward hold along with three heavy KEW mounts. I think we found our missing weapons," Mathew replied as he pointed to the chalkboard next to his desk.

"Damn, old Tom Zarek's group. You know he is coming up for parole next year," Moiré said as she stepped over to the board and started reading the notes under each picture and following the lines that connected them. "Are these confirmed?" she asked as she pointed at the pictures with her good hand.

"Yes, three of the bodies from the freighter have been positively identified as top members of the S.F.M. and are on the shoot to kill list on Picon, Sagittaron, and Caprica. They may have had facial surgery, but their fingerprints were confirmed in the data base of the JAG computers. From there, I have video imagery of them meeting up with these six people, three of them from Veil Two, and the rest on Smelter One. From there we've identified who they are friends with. The JAG corps has started rounding them up quietly. Breaking them will be the hard part but I'm sure the CID can break them. One thing we found was several storage containers filled with light KEWs hidden behind stacks of battle plate that was supposed to be sent to Scorpio station," Mathew replied as he stood up and walked to the coffee pot, "Coffee Ma'am?"

"Good we can use those KEWs, get them back to the repair ships for installation back into the reserve fleet. What about the repairs to the station's CIC and Warstar _Pan?_ What about that shuttle full of kids? And yes on that coffee."

"Well underway for the station. _Pan _has docked with the Constructionstar _Draftsman_ and they have started pulling the destroyed energizer. Estimated time of replacement is four days. Shuttle 948 was grappled by the Firestar _Intrepid_ and her passengers evacuated with no loss except for the shuttle when it penetrated the wall of the sphere and vanished into the nebula."

"Do we know who owned the _Alliance?_ If so are there any more ships coming in from that company?" Moiré asked.

"She was an independent hauler, but I have CID checking to see if their captain was buddies with any other independent and if they come into the Veil. If so, I plan on having their ships searched very carefully for contraband," Mathew replied as he filled a cup of coffee and handed it to his boss.

"I agree, let's make it a standard check on all incoming and outgoing ships. So what else have I missed while I was in medical? Anything I need to know about?" Moiré asked as she took another sip of her coffee.

Mathew looked through the reports from Picon and only found one thing interesting, "It looks like Admiral Nagala received orders from the government ordering that the three remaining colonization ships in service to be deactivated and decommissioned. We're getting the _Titanica, Olympia_ and _Olympic_. Why they are sending them to us, I have no idea but I have them scheduled to go into the decommissioning fleet for scrapping when they get here," Mathew said as he set the paper down.

"Interesting, why to us when Scorpio decommissioning yard usually gets them first… I think Admiral Nagala is up to something. When the three ships get here, send them to the reserve fleet for now. It's not like we could start the scrapping anytime soon with the hundred plus ships in the scrapping yard right now. We can use their domes to generate more reserve food for us at this time. If I remember right there are six Agro domes on each ship, and one of them is a live stock. We'll wait and see what condition they are when they get here before I jump to conclusions. Anything on the fleet?"

"Normal reports on the fleet, several Battle groups are doing exercises. Several ships are going in for upgrades and they have decided that the _Galactica_ will be decommissioned on Armistice Day next year. Several Gunstars are doing maneuvers three light years away from us. And mineral command has reported they have found a half dozen nearby asteroids that contain Tylium and the mineral deposits we need for continue upgrade. I have dispatched six of the _Octopus_ tugs to bring the asteroids to the Veil and place them in pocket two as reserves while we finish up with the two were harvesting now.

"Good idea. Do you think we should expand the Veil again?" Moiré asked as she rubbed her left arm above the cast.

"A third pocket?" Mathew asked in confusion.

"Yes, one to for the asteroids so they don't cause any navigational hazards."

Mathew leaned back in his chair and glanced at map of the nebula. Getting up, he walked over to it and examined it for a second and then said, "We could place it off pocket two and add another emergency tunnel to the back side of the nebula. We would need an additional thirty satellites for the pocket and twenty for the tunnel."

"How long would it take to form the pocket?"

"We would need to build forty more satellites, program them and then move them into position. I'd say three months to complete both the tunnel and the pocket."

"Get to it, I just don't like the idea of all that Tylium next to the reserve ships if we can help it," Moiré ordered as she stood up and said, "I'll be in my quarters resting as I was ordered to. If anything comes up. Let me know."

"Yes, Ma'am," Mathew replied as his boss started walking away and then she stopped at the door and turned around.

"Mathew, just one thing I have to say."

"Ma'am?" Mathew asked in confusion.

"You're doing a hell of a job," she said as she pulled the door open and walked out of the room.

"Thank you, Ma'am," Mathew replied with a smile as he watched the door close.

.

.

**Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.**

.

.

.

**Characters Mentioned**

Admiral Moiré Hays is a forty-three year old widow. She was born and raised on Caprica. She attended Caprica Academy before transferring in her fifth year to Picon Academy. Her husband Charles was killed when his Raptor blew up ten years before while on approach to Picon fleet headquarters. She has three children, triplet girls who are in their fourth year at Picon Academy. Amelia, Amanda and Jessica are their names. Amelia is training to be a Viper pilot, Amanda is training to be a doctor and Jessica is in Fleet command school.

**.**

Commander Mathew Torrez. He is twenty-nine, divorced. He has one child, who is nine years old. Elizabeth Torrez lives with her father on Veil One.

.

Colonel Josh Mallard of the Colonial Marines is in charge of the marines in the Depot for security. He is forty-six years old, never married. His motto is, 'If the Marines wanted you to have a wife, we would have issued you one.'

.

Doctor Elizabeth Myers of the medical core and commanding officer of the medical ship _Hope _and Veil One. She is thirty-three years old, married to Doctor Anthony Myers and they have one child, Michal who is seven years old. She is a specialist in burn treatment and plastic surgery.

.

Lieutenant Commander Isis Hamilton who commands the small craft of the depot. And to her left is

.

Sergeant-major Erik Ways commanding officer of the Veil One station police force. He is thirty-six years old and married. His wife Joan is a school teacher on Veil One and they have four children. Alex (14), Rigid (12), Melisa (9) and Maria (6). He has several degrees in criminology, forensics and investigations from Caprica Police Academy.

.

Lieutenant Mara Harris, twenty year old from Picon. She is Admiral Hays, secretary.

.

Admiral Nagala is a senior admiral in the Colonial Fleet. His command is BG 1 and his flagship is the _Atlantia._

.

Admiral Peter R. Corman is a high-ranking officer in the Colonial Fleet. A member of the Colonial Fleet Admiralty, Corman ordered Commander William Adama and the battlestar _Valkyrie_ to escort a recon vessel over the Armistice Line prior to the fall of the Twelve Colonies. He is in charge of Picon command along with Fleet central.

.

Thomas Zarek, commonly known as Tom Zarek, was a political activist for more than 30 years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. He was a charismatic, eloquent and ideological political agitator who was incarcerated for destroying a government building on Sagittaron. He has a large following still on the loose.

.

.

.

.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	4. Chapter 3

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Three**

.

.

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

.

.

**.**

**.**

**1 year before the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Station Veil;**

Admiral Moiré Hays stood at attention on the main landing bay as the shuttle came to a stop on the elevator. Behind her the station's band started playing the Colonial Fleet Anthem as the ramp descended from the hull of the sleek shuttle. The ramp hit the deck right on the red carpet and the first person appeared at the ramp and looked around. Two marines stepped down on to the deck of the station and took up guard duty on each side of the rank as Admiral Nagala appeared.

Moiré looked at her boss as he descended to the deck as the anthem stopped playing. Behind him came Admiral Corman and another officer wearing the rank of Commander.

"Permission to come aboard?" Admiral Nagala asked with a salute.

"Permission granted Admiral. Welcome to Veil One," Moiré replied as she saluted back.

"Thank you, Moiré. You know Admiral Corman and this is Commander William Wilson of the _Atlantia_." Admiral Nagala said as he introduced them.

"Welcome aboard Admiral, Commander. If you follow me, I'll escort you to your quarters," Moiré replied as she gestured to the elevator stations.

"Thank you, but let's go to your office first. We have some things to talk about. Commander, why don't you enjoy yourself while we admirals talk about what we need to," Nagala suggested as he looked at the commander of the Battlestar Atlantia.

"Yes, Sir. I'll see you at dinner, Sir," Commander Wilson replied and then turned to Commander Torrez and said, "Good to see you again Mathew."

"Same to you William. Lets head down to the bar since I'm off duty. How's Nancy?" Mathew replied as the two old friends walked off.

Moiré led her bosses to the elevator banks and they went up to the command level. Leading them down the hall she opened the door to her office and they stepped inside as the marine guards took up position at the door.

"Have a seat and I'll get you both a drink," Moiré suggested as she gestured to the armchairs. She walked to the bar and filled three glasses of Ambrosia as her mind wondered what was going on. Picking up the three drinks she passed two of them to her boss and settled herself into her seat. Taking a sip of the potent booze she asked as she looked at the two men, "What can I do for you Thomas, Peter."

Thomas Nagala leaned back in his chair. Setting his glass down, he said, "Moiré, what do you know about Operation Skipjump."

"Never heard of it. I assume it is important," Moiré replied.

"It is or was. It was centered on the _Valkyrie_ under Commander Adama fifteen months ago. But the story starts a few months before that when deep space sensors detected powerful nuclear detonations in the fifty megaton range behind the Armistice Line. So I came up with the plan to send a stealthstar into Cylon space to see what was going on. The mission was run by Commander Adama, but the mission was flown by Lieutenant Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek. Bulldog's mission started out alright and he was able to check six systems before his ship was detected. On the way back to the _Valkyrie_ his ship was intercepted and Commander Adama ordered the Stealthstar destroyed. Unfortunately Bulldog never sent the data stream like he was supposed to so we don't know what he found. At the same time long range telescopes on several spy satellites we deployed along the line have spotted some of strange ships about the size of one of our battlestars but the images are blurry. So we've come up with some contingency plans for the fleet. One is Veil One," Peter said as he picked up his glass and took another sip.

"If the Cylons attack, and we, Peter and I believe they will we've come up with Homebase one which centers on Veil One. The first part has been completed by you when you followed my suggestions by building the emergency tunnels and the second sphere. When the Cylons do attack, I have set it up where all the support ships in the fleet will jump to the emergency tunnels. You will get the tankers, supply ships, repair ships, exploration ships and medical ships. How many make it, I don't know but if half the hundred and thirty support ships get here, I'll be thrilled. At the same time, I have placed high ranking officers in all twelve of the civilian space ports to act as liaisons. They have ordered to have all civilian ships in orbit to jump to the emergency tunnel locations as well. At the same time, on the planets any ship on the ground will start loading civilians and get them out of harm's way," Admiral Nagala added as he picked up his drink and looked at it before taking a sip.

"At the same time this is going on, ships hidden at the academies on Picon, Virgon, Caprica and Scorpio will load up all the cadets and as many civilians as possible from the academy grounds and jump away as well. As you know we decommissioned all thirty of the _Harrier_ class Marinestars. Well we donated twenty-four of them to the academies and each has three of them stationed at their campus airfields to help train them. What people don't know except for the commandant of the academies and select staff is that every one of them is fully combat ready. They are fully stocked with supplies, fuel and ammo. Each Marinestar will be able to lift off ten thousand people to safety. The remaining three _Harriers _and two _Aethon_ are stationed at Picon Academy or in orbit in the case of the _Aethon's_," Peter said.

"Sir, does the president know about this?" Moiré asked.

"No, he has his head in the sand and all he sees is downsizing the fleet to cover his social plans. He is gambling that the Cylons wont attack, but I know they will, not when but will. So I and Peter came up with this plan to keep a reserve fleet in combat readiness. By Armistice Day, every ship here should be at full combat readiness…"

"Well we have a problem with that. Three of the _Titans_ need massive repairs; in fact the _Menoetius_ is just a hulk. We have restored her engines, CIC, energizers and one of her flight pods to active status. The rest o her interior is just a stripped compartments. Her weapons are gone and so is fifty percent of her armor. The _Leto_ and _Asteria_ are being rebuilt but getting the material forged is going slow because we're trying to restore all of them at once. I propose that we wait on them and bring the other four back to combat readiness first. Then work on the _Leto_ and _Asteria_ while I…" Moiré stopped what she was saying as things started flashing through her mind on all the ships that had been sent to the reserve fleet.

"Moiré, what's wrong?" Peter asked.

"You…" clearing her throat and taking another sip of her drink she tried again, "You think we're going to loose in any attack. That's why you want all the civilian, academy, and support ships to come here."

Peter looked at Thomas and then back at their fellow officer, "Yes. You saw the reports on how bad the first war was. Millions dead, cities in ruins where it took decades to rebuild, and on some of the planets we're still not one hundred percent prewar population. So the plan is to have Veil One as a safe haven for the people to gather and then you will lead them away from the twelve colonies and find a new home to build on. As you know Veil One, Veil Two, Smelter One and Refinery One all have FTL engines to help with the civilian population plus give you a start of building a new home."

Admiral Nagala picked up his briefcase and popped it open. Pulling out a folder he said, "Keep this locked up in your safe. It deals with supplies for you. We have moved some of the smaller asteroid depots that are reserved for fleet emergencies. I suggest once the attacks settle down you use Raptors and Shuttles to empty them of supplies. Two of them are emergency fuel depots with enough fuel to supply a Battlegroup. You will need to use some tankers to empty them. All the asteroids have a space dock installed in them so you'll be able to hide a large ship inside while you empty them.

"We have also found you another five hundred Mark V Vipers and three hundred MK III Raptors at the reserve depots. They are being loaded up and shipped to Veil One at this time. President Adar also ordered the closing of the reserve station _Reliant _and cargo depot out near Ragnor. The ships there are being sent here. You're getting thirty more Gunstars, twenty Firestars, six Warstars, two retired _Jupiter_ class Battlestars, thirty freighters, twenty liners, Station _Reliant_, and two Constructstars along with their support crews. They should start arriving in ten days. The last to arrive will be Station _Reliant_ and the cargo depot by _Octopus_ tugs. The _Jupiter's_ will be delivered by the _Leviathan_ class mobile yard _Monsoon._ She will also bring in three dozen ships for the scrap yard," as he handed the folder to Moiré.

"I will Sir. What will you two do?" she asked as she set the folder to the side.

"We, we will do our duty and die fighting the enemy when they come. Your job is to keep our race alive and get them to safety," Peter replied as he stood up, and added; "Now you promised us dinner."

"Yes, Sir, let me lock this up and we'll head down to the dining room that I've had prepared," Moiré replied as she picked up the folder and crossed the room to her office and locked the documents up.

.

.

**Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.**

.

.

.

.

**Characters Mentioned**

Admiral Moiré Hays is a forty-three year old widow. She was born and raised on Caprica. She attended Caprica Academy before transferring in her fifth year to Picon Academy. Her husband Charles was killed when his Raptor blew up ten years before while on approach to Picon fleet headquarters. She has three children, triplet girls who are in their fourth year at Picon Academy. Amelia, Amanda and Jessica are their names. Amelia is training to be a Viper pilot, Amanda is training to be a doctor and Jessica is in Fleet command school.

**.**

Commander Mathew Torrez. He is twenty-nine, divorced. He has one child, who is nine years old. Elizabeth Torrez lives with her father on Veil One.

.

Colonel Josh Mallard of the Colonial Marines is in charge of the marines in the Depot for security. He is forty-six years old, never married. His motto is, 'If the Marines wanted you to have a wife, we would have issued you one.'

.

Doctor Elizabeth Myers of the medical core and commanding officer of the medical ship _Hope _and Veil One. She is thirty-three years old, married to Doctor Anthony Myers and they have one child, Michal who is seven years old. She is a specialist in burn treatment and plastic surgery.

.

Lieutenant Commander Isis Hamilton who commands the small craft of the depot. And to her left is

.

Sergeant-major Erik Ways commanding officer of the Veil One station police force. He is thirty-six years old and married. His wife Joan is a school teacher on Veil One and they have four children. Alex (14), Rigid (12), Melisa (9) and Maria (6). He has several degrees in criminology, forensics and investigations from Caprica Police Academy.

.

Lieutenant Mara Harris, twenty year old from Picon. She is Admiral Hays, secretary.

.

Admiral Thomas Nagala is a senior admiral in the Colonial Fleet. His command is BG 1 and his flagship is the _Atlantia._

.

Admiral Peter R. Corman is a high-ranking officer in the Colonial Fleet. A member of the Colonial Fleet Admiralty, Corman ordered Commander William Adama and the battlestar _Valkyrie_ to escort a recon vessel over the Armistice Line prior to the fall of the Twelve Colonies. He is in charge of Picon command along with Fleet central.

.

Thomas Zarek, commonly known as Tom Zarek, was a political activist for more than 30 years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. He was a charismatic, eloquent and ideological political agitator who was incarcerated for destroying a government building on Sagittaron. He has a large following still on the loose.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	5. Chapter 4

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Four**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

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**.**

**.**

**Six months before the attack;**

**Deep behind the Armistice line;**

**The Colony;**

Far behind the imaginary line drawn through space, a giant space station circled a small blue and green world known as Cylon Prime. Only one city dotted the largest of the two land masses. This city, founded less then forty years before housed hundreds of thousands of Cylons. Mechanical and what would later be called skin jobs by the Colonial survivors lived in harmony with each other. There were various mechanical forces that lived in the system. Some mined the planets and asteroids around the system while others patrolled around in their Raiders watching for any attack that could happen. While the other forms, the skin jobs had seven forms.

The number One version called the Cavil line were the primary leaders and strategist. They manipulate everything to their way, and their way was war. Their leader is John Cavil and is fully responsible for what happened to the final five and the destruction of the seventh version of the Cylons called the Daniel model.

The number Two versions were known as Conoy. Known as the prophet with predilections for enlightened monotheistic religion of the humans religion. They are master spies with the ability to sow deceit and misinformation to the colonies.

The Threes is a model of humanoid Cylon known as the Biers version. They are female, with usually some type of blond hair. Most have a religious curiosity that is fanatical in the final five models.

The Fours are soft spoken, black and usually bald. Most pose as medical profession or dock workers in the infiltration of the colonies. The version is known as the O'Neill model.

The number Fives known as the Doral appear to be a man in his mid-thirties. The Doral model's purpose is to attempt to sow the seeds of discontent or confusion in the colonies during life and death situations. They try to authority that seems to threatens his mission. They take on the ordinary human like cameramen for the news stations, reporters, delivery workers and mechanics.

The Sixes are the seductress. Stunningly beautiful they are highly religious in nature. This driven model is marked by a ruthlessness against all who would stand in their way. The number Sixes are typically sensual and use seduction in infiltration and are called the Caprica model.

The Sevens were the musicians and dreamers that Cavil felt threatened from so he wiped them out before they could be produced. They were known as the Daniel model.

The Eights are the youngest in both fact and appearance and generally associated with the name "Sharon" when interacting with humans. Eights are known for being more empathic and compassionate than the other Cylons. Most of the eight spies serve in the colonial fleet ready to cause mayhem when needed to destroy the human ships.

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1*1*1

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John Cavil sat in his room on the colony going over the plans for the attack. The installation of the hacked CNP program was proceeding as planned in the colonial fleet. Already seventy percent of the Battlestars had been infected and sixty percent of the escort vessels. All twelve of the planetary mainframes had been infected as well. Five Battlestars were due to be decommissioned as well including the relic from the first war. The _Galactica_ was due to be decommissioned on the day of the attack and would be an easy kill because standard protocol called for all her ammunition to be offloaded days ahead of the decommissioning ceremony. The _Titans_ were gone and from what reports their spies had found, they were in sorry state at the Veil depot do to the S.F.M. terrorists stealing their armor and small weapons.

One snag was the _Pegasus_ under the command of Admiral Helen Cain and her stubbornness of having her ships systems upgraded. After two months, they had finally gotten her in the list to be infected even if it was the day of the attack. With her docked at the shipyards, she'd be an easy target to take out.

"Brother, what are you thinking about?" James Cavil asked his twin.

With a feral grin, John replied, "Why the destruction of the species known as man. What else would I think about?"

"Of course, soon the plague of man will be wiped out. However I do have some reports for you. The last of the Baseships have been completed. We now have two hundred of them online and stocking up for the attack. For escorts we have two hundred destroyers and three hundred and ten Supportstars converted from the old first war. We have built eighty tankers and seventy munitions freighters to supply the fleets. The last resurrection ship is under construction now and should be finished in two months. That will give us eight to scatter around the human worlds. We have enough raiders to stock each Baseship three times over. Our main armaments factories have stock piled enough bullets, missiles for two years of heavy combat and in five months we'll have one hundred thousand ten kiloton nuclear warheads, twenty thousand twenty-five kiloton warheads and ten thousand fifty kiloton warheads for the fleet," James reported.

"Have our spies been able to get the fleet patrol schedules for the next six months?"

"Kati thinks she will have it next month when she is assigned to Picon fleet headquarters. Seems Admiral Corman and Nagala have marked it as a military secret not to be stored on a networked system," James replied as he thought of the number six serving as the former Vice Admiral Richard Anderson's aide.

"And what about Admiral Anderson? What has the colonial CID said about his death?" John asked as he turned his chair to look at his fellow clone.

"They have ruled his death an accidental failure of his paraglinder," James replied with an evil grin.

"That's good. He was a brilliant tactician that needed to be taken out before the attack. Now what about the Veil? Why haven't any of our spies reported back? Do you think they have captured them?"

"No, I don't know. It's odd that none have suicide and downloaded. Do you think the nebula is interfering with the downloads?"

"Frak! I didn't think of that. How many Baseships do you have assigned to destroy the Veil?" John asked,

"Three should be more than enough. There are only twenty thousand humans in the Veil. Their defenses consist of two old _Columbia_ I class Battlestars in static orbit near the tunnel exit. The rest of the reserve fleet is deactivated and have little crew to cause us any harm," James reported.

"Double the ships in the attack fleet and toss in a pair of destroyers as escorts. It never hearts to be prepared for anything that could happen. Now let's talk about the attack on the human's main construction facilities over Scorpio, Picon and Caprica," John said as he activated the monitors to show each of the stations, and started pointing at them, "I believe these are the best locations to hit on the stations for maximum damage…"

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Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.

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_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	6. Chapter 5

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**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Five**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

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**.**

**.**

**1 day before the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Station Veil;**

Moiré watched the monitor showing the _Leviathan_ class _Monsoon_ slide pass the station. Inside her massive dock was the Jupiter class Battlestar Juno. Just entering the main bubble was Station _Reliant_. She was being pushed along by three _Octopus _tugs from the old Reliant depot that had been closed.

"Well that's the last of them," Commander Mathew Torrez reported as the tunnel behind the station was adjusted back to its original size, "Tunnel satellites are strained from the enlargement, but should be ok. I have repair Raptors heading for each of them now."

"True, with the small Reliant acting as a support base in bubble two, we won't have to move Veil Two. Make sure you put arming her down as a priority. What about the fleet. Are we ready for anything?" Moiré asked.

"We are. We have the Caprica and Virgon at full strength. Their point defense KEWS have been upgraded and increased by fifty percent. Their heavy KEWS now mount the same main battery as the _Atlas_ class Battlestars and as you know we've added two extra gun turrets to the main hull behind the CIC. We now have four _Titan's_ that's the _Titan,_ _Coeus,_ _Cronus,_ and the _Crius_ are at full strength along with fighter wings. Just wish they were Mark VIIs instead of Mark V's. Following Admiral Nagala and Corman's orders the _Leto_ and _Asteria_ have been turned into training ships while the _Menoetius_ is the largest medical and school ship ever built. I do pity anyone who attacks those three ships. While we cut down their main batteries, we increased their point defense by eight percent. Nothing should get through them to damage them. The _Eos, Helios,_ and _Selene_ are sitting in bubble two being gone over and they look good. They just need personal to be added to the two thousand that are on each. Even their small craft department is maxed out with Mark IV Vipers and MK I Raptors but only with fifty pilots on each.

"All the original Gunstars, Warstars and Firestars are at full strength. The Gunstars and four of the Warstars have been withdrawn back to bubble two. You do know if the President or the Quorum find out we have crews for all the original ships here we're fraked," Mathew said as he tapped the screen and the picture changed to show the _Reliant_ station being pushed towards bubble two.

"We'll be fine. All we're doing is following orders. Now what about the new ships? Do any need extensive repairs?" Moiré asked.

"No, seems like Admiral Loren was a stickler for the rules and kept them all within eighty percent combat readiness. Everyone one of the reserve ships has a full complement of small craft and their magazines are topped off. Fuel levels are all at thirty percent while the dry good lockers are full. Each ship canteen is fully stocked. There are two hundred colonial fleet personal on each ship along with thirty marines for security on board the Gunstars, Firestars, and Warstars. The Battlestars _Juno_ and _Jupiter_ both have five hundred personal and seventy marines out of a complement of sixteen hundred. We used some of the Battlestar crews to move the freighter and liners to the depot and will have them back onboard their mother ships ASAP. I still can't believe they retired them. They are almost brand new."

Moiré nodded her head and then said, "It's because they were the test beds for the rest of the class and the newer _Mercury_ class. Now that they perfected them, it's cheaper to retire them then restore them back to their original configuration. Or that was the scuttlebutt. See about pulling say fifty personal from each of the _Titans_ and twenty to thirty from the rest of the reserve fleets and assign them to the _Juno_ and _Jupiter._ That way we can at least increase their crew personal to somewhat combat proficiency."

"Good idea, I also received a report from CID and the JAG Corps on the S.F.M. They busted the more of the ring that caused us so many problems and they think they have a location on their base in the Zodia belt. Fleet was able to capture two more of their freighters. Both had been heavily armored and armed with point defense KEWs and missile batteries. It took four Gunstars and two Battlestars to batter them down so marines could board them. Their holds were packed with defense missiles and ammo for the ships," Mathew reported.

"Good, did you get the Caprica Academy personal bunked down?" Moiré asked as she watched the Reliant disappear into bubble two.

"Yes I did. Personal is already placing them on the ships and stations for training. Also the Libran academy personal are packing and will be ready to head home tomorrow on the three liners that were charted for them," Mathew reported and then added, "Hate to see them go. They are good kids, really know their stuff."

"I still cannot believe they brought the whole school with them," Moiré stated as she remembered when the six thousand cadets had marched off the liners that had been charted for them. They had marched across the flight deck in their crisp white uniforms with blue stripes down their arms and legs. They came to a stop with the first years in front and fifths in the back. They then came to attention and saluted her.

"That was amazing what those cadets pulled on the flight deck. After Caprica, we have the Picon element due for three months. Then we won't have any more until the New Year. Speaking of recruits, we're expecting the liner _Homestead_ tomorrow morning. She's carrying three hundred Viper pilots, one hundred marines and six hundred Colonial Fleet personal for rotation for Veil One. When she leaves she'll be taking over seven hundred back to Picon for reassignment including the CAG Major Amanda Parks of the _Titan._ Commander Rick Wilson has already promoted the executive CAG commander to replace Major Parks."

"Damn, I was hoping she would stay. She's whipped the pilots of the _Titans_ into top shape," Moiré replied with a small sigh.

"Well, we can't have everything we want. So are you going aboard the _Titan_ tonight for the ceremony for Commander Wilson and his fiancée?" Mathew asked.

"Yes, I figure it will be easier since their wedding is to start at o-nine hundred hours. Still cannot believe he asked me to marry them and not the priests," Moiré stated as she stood up and stretched and winched from a spasm in her back.

"Your back is still bothering you?" Mathew asked when he saw his boss winch in pain.

"Only when I sit to long like I did this morning doing the reports for the Admiralty. Doctor Myers says it's healing, but it's taking a while because the bruising along the spine," Moiré said as she looked at the clock on the wall, before finishing, "Well I better get to my quarters and get a shower. I'll see you at the wedding tomorrow. You have command of Veil One until tomorrow."

"Yes, Ma'am, have a good night," Mathew replied as he watched his boss walk out of the room.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Battlestar Titan;**

Moiré looked up as the music stopped and Amanda Carriage came to a stop next to Commander Rick Wilson. Amanda was one of the Veil school teachers and very popular with her charges.

"We're gathered here to bind these two in marriage. As they have consented to become one in the eyes of the gods, they have asked us to witness this blessed event…"

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Near the Armistice line;**

**Ten minutes into the attack;**

**BSG-14;**

**CIC _Andraste:_**

**Battlestar _Andraste_;**

The _Andraste_ was taking hit after hit from the Cylons as they tried to reboot their systems Admiral Jeremiah Delphi stood at the Dradis station watching his Battlegroup die. Already two of his Patrolstars and one Battlestar had been destroyed with two more crippled.

"Checking, we have minimum power to engines, but the FTL is spooling up from issuing your Red Omega One order. Five minutes top!" replied Captain James Miller the CAG of the ship.

"Thank you James, order all Vipers to land…" off to port, a Gunstar exploded as sixteen Cylon Raiders slammed into its portside.

"All remaining Vipers are returning. Heavy damage to Cylon baseship, estimated loss to enemy small craft is six hundred and twelve. Baseship has jumped but she launched another three hundred Raiders at us before doing so."

"How did they hack us?" John asked.

"Through the CNP," came the reply.

"Shit…" he said and then thought to himself, _'How do we recover our Vipers?'_ and then an idea hit him.

"How many FTL drones do we have aboard? And do we still have control of the launchers?"

Captain James Miller turned to another board and his fingers flew over the controls as he replied, "Sir, we have five hundred of the drones onboard and we have control of them. Frak, just lost control of auxiliary control room six!"

"Good, program them with baker nine jump fourteen. Set them to find the nearest disabled Viper and snag them with their magnetic locks. They are then to jump to that location. Notify all ships to jump there and contact Picon Fleet Headquarters and tell them what is going on…"

"Three more baseships just jumped in. They're firing missiles and launching Raiders!"

"Sir, the ship is venting space through the virus. Two minutes till depletion of all oxygen. The crew is scrambling for life masks and tanks."

_Andraste_ shuddered as six more missiles slammed into her side and her engines faltered.

"Ok everyone, get a mask on and let's keep doing our job. Get me my weapons," John ordered as one of his guards handed him a mask and tank.

"Sir, engines off line!"

"Get them back online," John ordered.

"Trying!" the young ensign on her first deployment replied as tears ran down her face.

John went flying as the ship heaved under a triple nuclear hit to the bow. Molten plasma raced across the ship's bow, burning away the ship's name and blackening the hull. Climbing to his feet, he looked at the Dradis board and it showed her escort ships dying as they tried to cover the ship, but with the arrival of three more baseships John knew the battle was lost. With three fourths of his Battlestars off line or destroyed, his fighter wings gutted it was only a matter of time."

"Sir, _Hope_ has her FTL on line. Spooling up now. They've started recovering their fighters," the communications officer reported as four more nuclear missiles hit the _Bengal._

"Engines online, weapons online," came a startled shout.

"Good, take us towards the enemy all batteries open fire. Send the following orders to the _Bengal,_ if they can, they're to abandon ship, and have the _Rowan_ and _Oak_ to close and lock onto her starboard side and rescue as many of her crew as possible.

_Andraste_ turned her massive bow towards the enemy fleet. Cutting through the fields of debris like an ancient sailing ship on the ocean she closed with the trio of baseships. Her mighty bow guns came online and started spitting death at the center ship. Explosions detonated from the _Andraste_ hull as every enemy missile and Raider turned towards the _Andraste._ Some slammed into the ship trying to stop her but most were destroyed by her automatic defense stations.

"Sir, _Rowan_ and _Oak_ have rescued nine hundred and twelve of the _Bengal's_ crew. Most are critical. Captain Slyer refuses to leave. He says may we die with honor," the communications officer reported.

On each side of the ship, drones launched from their launchers and raced through the hundreds of disabled ships. Quickly latching onto them, they vanished into FTL in a blink of an eye as their mother ship hurtled towards her death. Behind her, the escort ships vanished as their FTL drives spooled up and they jumped. A large explosion blossomed behind them, blinding the rear Dradis scanners.

"Sir, the _Hope_ and _Bengal_ are gone…"

"Sir, central Baseship has been destroyed!" came the shout from the weapons officer.

"Take us between them, and may the Lords of Kobol protect us!" John replied.

"We are splitting their battle line, enemy missile fire is intensifying," James reported.

_Andraste _shuddered as missile after missile slammed into the ship while her guns ripped apart the two enemy ships. Explosions detonated on the armor hide of the _Andraste_ as her main guns fired on the baseships while her defense guns fired on the incoming missiles.

John was flung across the Dradis station as his ship heaved and yawed as she tried to take out her enemy and survive. Another Baseship had appeared directly ahead and he ordered the bow guns to fire once more as he staggered to his feet.

With another hit, John went flying once more across the room, knocking the engineering officer and weapons officer away from their terminals as he landed on them. Smoke started filling the room as the stunned crew moved to help their beloved admiral.

For three minutes all four ships danced the dance of death and then a blinding flash, that one day would be seen on Picon, if anyone was still alive there, flooded the quadrant as four giant ships died.

*****Taken from the short story Death of the Andraste!*****

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Emergency Exit number One for Veil One;**

Lieutenant Miles Ryder sat at his station on the small hidden defense satellite that protected emergency tunnel number one for the Veil. Checking the passive Dradis board he picked up his coffee cup and slowly drained it and then refilled it with fresh from the dispenser. Miles picked up the Raptor manual he was reading and found the page on emergency repair of the FTL drive. Sitting back in his chair he took a sip and flipped the page. He was starting to read the new page when the small satellite's alarm went off.

The book hit the floor beside him as he flipped the dradis screen to full power. Around him objects started appearing. "What the frak?" he said as he turned the alarm on as the door behind him opened and his partner ran into the room.

"What's going on Miles?" Ensign Alice Wayne asked as she slid into her seat.

"Not sure, Dradis all of a sudden went ballistic. I have five hundred small objects appearing… More targets, larger… were getting colonial signatures now. I have seven targets. Still waiting on the ID," Miles reported as he started up the transmitter to contact the ships.

"That's a _Nova_ class Battlestar and she's venting air. It looks like her port landing bay has been shredded," Alice replied as she pointed at the massive ship less than five miles from the tunnel.

Miles picked up the handset and said, "This is defense satellite one-nine to unidentified Nova class battlestar. Please identify, you are in restricted space."

The answer he wanted wasn't what he received, "This is the Battlestar _Hope _of BSG14_,_ and we need medical help. We have taken heavy damage from a Cylon sneak attack. Battlestars _Whisper, Bengal_ and _Andraste _have been destroyed along with two Titan Gunstars and two Strikestars.

"Miles, I'm getting distress calls from those smaller targets. They are Mark VII Vipers and Raptors," Alice reported.

"Thank you Alice. Send a message down the tunnel that we need heavy lifters to rescue those craft and a warning to Admiral Hays. I will try and contact the Hope," Miles ordered as he clicked the handset and started talking, "Battlestar Hope. We have received your report. We're opening emergency tunnel one for you to enter. All survivors of BSG-14 proceed down the tunnel to Veil One. You'll be me by the Firestar frigates at the end of the tunnel. So you know the tunnel is forty miles long and will take you a while to arrive at the depot."

"This is Ensign Alice Wayne on defense satellite one-nine at the end of tunnel one. We need a lot of heavy lifters to recover five hundred. I repeat five hundred disabled small craft. The rest is to Admiral Hays, commanding officer of Veil One. Ma'am. We've received a report from the remnants of BSG-14 that state the Cylons have attacked their group and have suffered the loss of the Battlestars _Whisper, Bengal_ and _Andraste _have been destroyed along with two _Titan _Gunstars and two Strikestars. The _Hope_ with two Strikestars, and four Gunstars were slowly approaching the entrance to emergency tunnel one now. All seven ships have taken moderate to heavy damages. Ma'am, we're awaiting your orders," Alice said into her handset and then hit the send, "Miles, message sent. What now?"

"Now we wait," Miles replied as they watched Raptors blossom from the undamaged flight pod of the Hope and start towing the disabled Vipers and Raptors into the bays of the ship."

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Battlestar Titan;**

Moiré almost jumped out of her skin as the alarms started sounding from the speakers. Closing the holy book in her hand as Commander Wilson walked to the wall and pulled a handset from its unit as the speakers started issuing ordered.

"All hands set condition one throughout the ship. Admiral Hays and Commander Wilson please report to the CIC."

Rick held the handset to his head and said, "This is Commander Wilson. Sitrep."

"Sir, this is Lieutenant Boyles. We just received a report from Lieutenant Miles Ryder on satellite one-niner at emergency tunnel one and it states the remnants of BSG 14 has FTL'd to their location. They report the destruction of the Battlestars _Whisper, Bengal_ and _Andraste _along with two _Titan _Gunstars and two Strikestars by the Cylons. The _Hope_ with two Strikestars, and four Gunstars are preparing to enter the tunnel to the Veil. All ships have suffered from moderate to heavy damage. They are requesting heavy lifters to pick up five hundred disabled small craft."

Moiré listened to the report while standing next to Commander Wilson. Reaching out she took the handset from the shocked man, "this is Admiral Hays. Notify all reserve units to bring their ships to combat stations and report to the main entrance. Station Veil is to fall back to the entrance to bubble two. I want all our Raptors and Vipers to be fully armed and prepared for combat. The _Titan,_ _Coeus,_ _Cronus,_ and the _Crius_ are to take position where they can fire down the primary entrance to the Veil. Arm all batteries with AP rounds. All flak guns are to be brought to full readiness. Battlestars Virgon and Caprica are to take up station eight hundred meters from the left side of the tunnel with their bow guns to form a cross fire at the entrance. Warstars are to stagger themselves by pairs on the starboard and portside of the _Titans_ to add their mains to the battle. Send the message to all crewed ships of the reserve fleet to open their safe's and withdraw the envelope marked operation Fallback. That is all."

The lights in the room shifted from white to red as the alarms started sounding. Moiré was walking to the door while Commander Wilson was whispering to his fiancée. He gestured to two marines who came over and he gave them some instructions while Moiré stopped at the door and said, "Coming commander?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Commander Wilson replied and started walking to the door pulling the tie of his dress uniform loose.

They walked through the ship to the CIC while the crew rushed by in all directions. Some of the crew were taking up damage control stations, while others were climbing up into the gun mounts. Orders were blaring through the speakers to the crew and they felt the ship move as its thrusters changed its heading. Stepping into the CIC, Moiré looked around the massive room and then steeped up to the rail and looked down on the second level of the bridge.

"Status report," Moiré ordered.

"Ma'am, defense satellites at the entrance of the main tunnel have opened fire on Cylon warships and Raiders. Several freighters have been destroyed by Cylon Raiders. Vipers and Raptors are prepared to launch when you give the order. _Virgon_ and _Caprica_ have taken up their positions as have the _Warstars._ All four _Titans_ are in position and stations manned. Depot Veil is falling back to the entrance to bubble two. Heavy lifters are on the way to rescue the stranded small craft at the entrance to emergence tunnel two," came the reports from Lieutenant Boyles.

"Thank…"

The young woman pressed her hand to her ear and then said, "Defense satellites one and three have been destroyed. Two, four and five are under heavy attack by Cylon Raiders. Cylon baseships are closing at this time with the last three satellites. We have four liners, two tankers, and three heavy freighters in the tunnel," Lieutenant Boyles added to her report.

Moiré knew that ten brave men and woman had just died on those two satellites, with a small sigh she said, "Have satellites two, four and five active automatic defenses and evacuate, as soon as they're in the tunnel and on the way home send a message to satellites twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two and three to innate operation Spindle."

"Sending now… crews are evacuating, stations under heavy attack… Raptors are away and heading for Veil one. Sending message now to designated satellites."

Deep in the tunnel, four hidden satellites that were placed just inside the gaseous fields of the nebula came online as three Colonial Raptors shot past them and started spitting death into the tunnel. One meter long cylinders were ejected from the satellites to form a barrier across the tunnel entrance. Each cylinder was covered in a stealth coating to make them difficult to detect on Dradis scanners. They sat waiting for any passing ship that was not flashing an active IFF from the colonial fleet.

Two thousand Raiders swept past the destroyed satellites. Their engines running at full speed, the small deadly ships tried to catch the fleeing human who knew the tunnel's curves and turns better than them. Behind them, the first of five Baseships formed up and started into the tunnel.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Tunnel One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Baseship Ninety;**

The number one known as Paul Cavil placed his hand in the data stream and watched as the images of the tunnel came to him. The lead Raider was leading the attack wings down the tunnel Ahead another turn was coming up and it sent the message to the rest of the squadrons to prepare to turn and increases speed to maximum. The ship flew around the turn and Paul spotted something just as the Raider leveled out and the image vanished.

"What happened?" Paul asked.

"Lead raider has… no we are losing Raiders like moths to flames," a number six known as Alice replied.

"What is causing…"

"Mines, they've mined the tunnel," another six replied.

"Frak, order the attack squadrons to destroy them," Paul ordered.

"Raiders have opened fire. Our losses have been seven hundred and thirty-one raiders," Alice reported.

"Have the rest fall back and destroy the mines. Launch the second wave and send them forth. We'll follow, at least our losses will be restored," Paul ordered as the giant Baseship started moving again.

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Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	7. Chapter 6

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**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Six**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

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**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Long term ship storage Veil One;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Battlestar Titan;**

Moiré watched the monitor showing the advance of the Cylon attack fleet. They were now just under halfway through the tunnel. Ahead of them, the civilian fleet was making the final turn to bring them to safety with the three surviving Raptors flanking them. "How long until the civilian ships exit the tunnel? How close are the Raiders?"

"Ma'am, ninety seconds. Nearest Raiders are three minutes behind them and closing," came the reply from across the CIC.

With a feral grin, Moiré gave the next order, "Prepare to send the signal."

"Yes, Ma'am. We just need your command code."

Moiré walked over to the communications station and started typing her command code into the message that was prepared to be sent out. As she pressed the last number in a call came from across the room.

"Freighters and Raptors are out of the tunnel," came the cry from the Dradis station.

"Here comes the first liner… second liner… Here comes the third… and the last liner is out. Tankers are coming out now. Man are they redlining their engines. Admiral, the tunnel is clear."

"Send the signal," Moiré ordered.

"Sending now," came the reply.

The signal leaped from the _Titan_ to the nearest tunnel satellite where it sent the signal along the walls to the next satellite to the next until it swept past the Cylon Raiders and Baseships to the end of the tunnel. Inside each satellite a countdown started. The entrance satellites started at ten while the ones at the end of the tunnel were counting down. When all of the satellites hit zero, the emitters for the polarization field shut off and the gasses of the nebula flooded into the tunnel closing off the last two turns for the Cylons. They never knew they were off course for the Veil bubble and flew deeper into the nebula. The Cylons were not worried about the gas because they figured they would eventually exit the nebula or find the bubble pocket. How wrong they were as the strange radiations of the cloud started affecting the organic bodies of the Raiders and Baseships. Unknown to the Cylon high command, they had just lost five Baseships and five thousand Raiders along with all the Centurions and Skin jobs of the Baseships.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Picon Fleet Headquarters;**

**Picon;**

Admiral Peter Corman was at his desk going over the morning reports while his counterpart was aboard the _Atlantia_ for an inspection of the ship after coming out of Scorpio Ship Yards from a three month upgrade to its software. Signing the last paper in front of him he placed it in his out box and reached for his coffee as an alarm sounded.

Picking up his phone he pressed the buttons for the command room. It was quickly picked up and he asked, "What's with the alarm?"

"Sir, a Raptor just jumped in squawking a warning. BSG-14 has been attacked by the Cylons."

"What?" Peter snapped out as he stood up.

"That's all we got… Sir, long range Dradis has picked up a dozen large ships approaching BSG-21."

A cold shiver went down his back before he started issuing his orders, "Send to all commands to go to battle stations. Notify them it's not a drill and the Cylons have attacked. Also send out this code to all planetary liaisons to the civilian spaceports, Colonial Academies and support fleets, Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango. Notify all ground stations to prep all Raptors and Vipers to condition red. Notify Picon Station to start loading all nonessential personal onto the docked civilian ships and jump them away and I mean all non essential. Is the 14th Marine expedition still heading for Libran's moon Pandrossos?"

"Sending now, Sir. As to the 14th they are preparing to jump now," came the reply through the handset.

"Send this message to them. General Howard is to open his code book and look up baker nine jump fourteen and jump to those coordinates. He will be met…"

"Sir, BSG-21 Vipers have gone off the air. Admiral Noon is launching more Vipers to take out the incoming Cylon Raiders."

"What do you mean they went off the air?"

"That's all they… Sir, BSG-21 has stopped squawking their ID, they are under heavy attack."

"I'll be right down. Get those messages off like I ordered," Peter snapped and slammed the handset down.

Peter ran to the door, yanked it open and started walking across the outer office to the glass doors to his waiting room which was abandoned by everyone but his secretary, "Helen, get home get your children and get to the Academy runway. Get on the Marinestar and stay safe. Take the silver case with you and the letter with you," he shouted as he yanked the door open and took off running.

Peter never saw his sectary jump up and yank open a hidden compartment behind the book case on her wall or take the one of the three cases out. She knew inside the case was a laptop computer loaded with all the ships upcoming ships and weapons. She quickly attached it to her wrist and was out the door before Peter reached the deep bunker below Picon Fleet Headquarters. Five minutes later, she was home loading up her three children along with six bags in the trunk. Tucked in her shirt pocket were the written orders she had received from her boss. Ten minutes later her car roared onto the Academy Base tarmac and up to the ships that were loading up. Grabbing the case and pulling her children out of the car, she was crying as she grabbed the bags and passed two of them to her ten year old twin daughters while her five year old son sucked on his thumb from the noise of the ships lifting off. One of the Colonial officers noticed Helen and recognized her. Seeing the case attached to her left arm, he knew it was important as she struggling with the bags and her children and ordered two marines to assist her. Ten minutes later the Marinestar was lifting off from the planet with five thousand people squeezed into its hull.

Peter entered the command bunker and looked at the massive Dradis board that showed the system. He watched as BSG-46 closed with the Cylons. Hundreds of Vipers and Raptors preceding the four Battlestars, ten Gunstars and twelve Patrolstars and then the Vipers and Raptors stopped flashing their IFF.

"What the hell is going on with the Vipers and Raptors?" Peter demanded.

"Sir, we're… Wait a second getting a message from Admiral Sparks on the _Gauntlet._ He reports that their systems are going off line. The Cylons are hacking through the CNP program… Contact lost with the _Gauntlet."_

They watched as hundreds of missiles blossomed from the Cylon fleet and the Colonial fleet turned broadside to them and started firing their anti-missile KEWs. All four of the Battlestars of BSG-46 were off line, but their escorts were still fighting. They were trying to save their larger cousins from destruction, but it was a doomed protection.

"Estimated three thousand missiles inbound to BSG-45," came the answer that everyone was wondering.

"Gunstars and Patrolstars are returning fire. Estimate three hundred outgoing missiles. Half are nuclear… Four more Gunstars have joined BSG-46. They are all that's left from BSG-21."

"May the Gods watch over them," Peter said as the missiles broke through the ships defenses and started hitting the ships.

"Gunstars _Worden_ and _Clyde_ have blown up, heavy damage to Patrolstars _Hopkins_ and _Hull_."

"YES! They got one!" came the shout from across the room.

On the screen one of the Cylon baseships was hit by ten nuclear missiles and blew up. Another was falling back from what looked like heavy damage. Two more Gunstars vanished from the Dradis screen followed by the four disabled Battlestars.

"Order the survivors of BSG-45 to micro jump to Picon station and take up defensive positions," Peter ordered as a Patrolstar blew up.

"Sending now, Sir," came the reply from the communications station.

On the Dradis board the six Gunstars and eight Patrolstars of BSG-21 and 45 appeared next to Picon station. Several of the Gunstars and Patrolstars were flashing red for damage.

"Order the damaged Gunstars and Patrolstars to jump to Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango," Peter ordered.

On the Dradis board, three of the Gunstars and four Patrolstars vanished back into FTL.

"Did the Academy ships get away?"

"Yes, Sire they just jumped along with the civilian ships that have FTL drives. Ships with inoperative FTL drives are been docked to heavy lifters and tugs and jumped away but its taking time to vector in the heavy lifters. Tanker _Orion_ has been ordered away from Picon Station."

Peter listen to the reports and sighed as he replied, "Send this to all stations, all ships. Replace the CNP program with an older version…"

"New Dradis contact, four hundred small targets two hundred miles from Picon station as well as three larger ones tha…"

"Order Picon Station to start flushing their missiles at the larger target. They are not to wait until they close to knife range," Peter ordered.

"Picon station is launching all missiles. Civilian ships are jumping away. Liners _Picon Morning_ and _Picon Sunset_ are pulling away right now. They have over six thousand children and Colonial dependents onboard, Battlestars _Mystic_ and _Acalypha _have disengaged from Picon Station," came the reports from around the room.

Peter listened to the reports coming in fast and furious from around the room. "Order the nearby Patrolstars to cover those two liners until they can jump," he ordered as he watched the Raiders closing with the station.

"Tanker _Orion_ has jumped. She's fully loaded with five hundred thousand gallons of liquid Tylium."

"Enemy Raiders fifty miles from the station. They are engaging Picon Stations missiles, but they are breaking through. Sir, we have two hundred and ninety missiles closing on the larger ships. Vipers are closing on the Cylon Raiders"

"Sir, Picon Station Vipers has gone off the air…"

"We got two more of them," one of the Dradis officer reported.

Peter watched as two of the enemy Baseships vanished under nuclear death.

"Cylon missiles inbound to Picon station. Estimated count is sixteen hundred missiles. Two hundred are nuclear missiles. Battlestars _Mystic_ and _Acalypha _have shut down just meters from the station."

Peter looked at the main screen and watched as missile after missile started slamming into the giant station. "Get me Admiral Nagala on the _Atlantia," _he said as the _Mystic_ took six nuclear hits and blew apart.

"Admiral Nagala on line one."

Peter picked up the handset and said, "Thomas, this is Peter. I'm about to come under heavy attack here. I have issued the orders for Operation Home Base One to all stations. The Cylons have compromised the fleet. The CNP program that Baltar designed has a back door in it which allows them to shut down our ships. I watched as Battlestars _Mystic_ and _Acalypha_ were pulling away from Picon Station when they lost power."

"Sir, we have reports of nuclear detonations on Libran and Aquaria. They are nuking the cities."

"Did you hear that Thomas?" Peter asked.

"Yes I did. I'm issuing orders for all Battlestars and escorts to rendezvous at Virgon. We will form up for a counter attack. It should give us enough time to purge the systems," Admiral Nagala replied.

"Thomas once you form up, I suggest you start operation Linebacker," Peter suggested.

"Incoming missiles!"

"Thomas, I'm transferring command of all fleet units to you. We have incoming missiles. Give them hell my old friend…"

Five missiles plunged through the atmosphere towards the massive city below. Vipers of the local guard dashed in and three were destroyed before Cylon Raiders closed and sent a signal at the Vipers which caused them to lose power. The first missile was an air burst and exploded just one hundred feet above the Colonial Fleet Headquarters. The fifty megaton warhead's detonation sent a blast wave out that flattened lesser structures like houses and the school buildings of Picon Academy, but buildings like the fleet Viper maintenance building, command building, and the harden hangers survived, The explosion destroyed the fifth missile that was coming in, and by the time the cloud had formed over the city, another missile was inbound. This missile was a bunker breaker nuclear warhead and it slammed into the command building, punching through its harden roof and down into through the five levels to the subbasement. The detonation caused earthquakes for hundreds of miles as the seventy megaton nuclear warhead cratered the planet.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Virgon Orbit;**

**Battlestar Atlantia;**

**CIC;**

Admiral Thomas Nagala listened to the static on the handset and closed his eyes as he thought of his family and friends. He was especially thinking of his daughter and grandchildren who had just died in the sneak attack.

"Get me all ships, all stations," Thomas ordered.

"Your online, Sir," came the reply.

"This is Admiral Nagala onboard the _Atlantia._ Picon Fleet Headquarters and Admiral Corman have been destroyed by the Cylons. Under Admiral Corman's orders, I am assuming command of the fleet at this time. I want all Battlestars and warships to rendezvous here at Virgon for the counter attack. All ships must purge their systems of the CNP program and install the older backups. The newer version has been compromised. This includes Vipers and Raptors. The enemy has attacked us in a surprise attack on the day we had an armistice of peace. They have let loose the dogs of war and war we shall give them. I cannot guarantee victory or defeat, all I can give them is our steel, the steel of our bullets and missiles. My prayers go out to the families who have lost their loved ones in this diabolic attack. All planets are to bring their defense forces to full activation. May the Gods of Kobol be watching over us in our time of need. So say we all," Nagala said as he hung up the handset.

Turning he looked at his CIC crew and started issuing his orders, "Take all stations off the network and start rebooting them. I want all gun batteries manned and under local control until we get the CNP replaced. All Vipers and Raptors need to be rebooted with the older version of the CNP program. After that is finished I want a standard cap on duty until the Cylons show up and then we flush the pods and get everything into the air."

The ships lights dimmed and changed from a soft white to a bright red. Around the stations the men and woman were wiping the hard drives and installing the older version of the CNP. As soon as the last station was rebooted they reconnected the network and the Atlantia seemed to come alive as system after system started working again.

"Dradis contacts!" came a shout and Nagala turned to the station once more.

"Status report," Thomas asked as he leaned over the board.

"Sir, they are colonial ships. I have BSG 2, 3, 17, 49, 50 and 98. Twenty four Gunstars and thirty Patrolstars have arrived as well," came the reports.

"Ship count," Nagala ordered.

"We have twenty-eight Battlestars, sixty-seven Gunstars and seventy-eight Patrolstars All ships report successful rebooting of their systems."

"Good connect me with all…"

"Sir, BSG 88 and 90 just jumped in with ten other Battlestars. They report they are ready for combat."

"Damage reports from all ships," Thomas ordered.

"Sir, Battlestar _Pontus_ and _Thalassa_ report heavy damage to their landing bays but their main guns are fully operational."

"Notify _Pontus_ and _Thalassa_ that they are to spool up their FTL drives and jump to Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango. In fact all ships that have moderate to heavy damage are to jump to Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango," Thomas ordered.

"Sending, now, Sir."

"Connect me to all warships for special orders," Thomas ordered as he watched the new ships form up on his.

"Connecting now, Sir… You're on the air, Admiral."

Thomas picked up the handset and started talking, "This is Admiral Nagala. I want all ships in the fleet at Virgon to load all nonessential personal onto your shuttles. I want most of your deck crews, marines and ordnance people on those shuttles. The shuttles, your heavy lifters, in-flight refulers and medical shuttles are to FTL to Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango to join up with Admiral Hays and her ships. Good luck and may the Lords of Kobol watch over you. All Raptors are to be loaded with ten kiloton nuclear warheads. That is all."

"Get me Virgon station," Nagala ordered.

"Sir, Virgon station on line one."

"Virgon Station, this is Admiral Nagala."

"Go ahead Admiral," came the reply.

"I want you to load up all your personal on every available ship and jump to Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango."

"Abandon the station?"

"Yes, if you stay you will die. Admiral Hays has need of you at her location. Now get going. Well hold them back as long as we can but I won't guarantee what they throw at us to destroy the planet. Notify all ground spaceports to load as many civilians as they can into the ships on their tarmac and get them airborne…"

"Sir, Cylons jumping in. Twenty contacts and rising," came a shout.

"So it begins. Have all ships form up into Delta One-Nine formation. Launch all Raptors and Vipers. Raptors are to jump behind the enemy Baseships and pound them to submission when I give the command, Once they launch their missiles, they are to FTL to Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango," Nagala ordered.

Around the fleet, hundreds of Vipers shot from their launching tubes as five thousand plus Vipers rose up from the surface of Virgon. The fleet slowly started advancing on the enemy fleet that had finally stopped appearing from FTL.

"Enemy count?" Nagala asked.

"Sir, one hundred and forty of those new type of Baseships, eighty destroyers, and one hundred of the old versions of their baseships… They are launching small craft."

On the Dradis board, it was quickly overwhelmed as ten thousand Raiders and four hundred heavy Raiders formed up and headed for the colonial fleet.

"All ships, launch nuclear missiles. I repeat the use of nuclear ordinance is approved. I want proximity detonation inside the Raider squadrons. Let's see if we can thin them down first with the first wave. Second wave is to target the baseships," Thomas ordered.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Virgon Space;**

**Baseship One;**

John Cavil sneered as he looked at the combined Colonial fleet about to be wiped out.

"They made is so easy for us coming to one spot. Prepare to destroy them. Have…"

"They have launched missiles. All are nuclear tipped and estimate count is nineteen hundred missiles… second wave launching," a number six reported from her station.

"Order the raiders to destroy the missiles. Don't let any of them through to attack us. Heavy Raiders are to FTL inside the human's fleet formation and disable them with the virus…"

"Their Raptors have FTL'd out… Their behind us…"

"Incoming missiles!" came the warning from a number four.

On the Cylon Dradis station, six hundred Raptors appeared and each started launching four ten kiloton nuclear missiles. The Cylon fleet started firing as soon as the ships were detected and three hundred of the insect like craft were blown apart before they could launch more than one missile. Thirty-seven hundred and ninety missiles streaked into the enemy fleet and twenty-two Baseships, thirty-two destroyers and seventy Supportstars blew up as missile after missile impacted on them.

The remaining Cylon ships fired again and another forty-nine Raptors blew up as they FTL'd away to safety following their orders as the first wave of missiles blew up in the face of the Cylon Raiders. In the Colonial Fleet formations the Heavy Raiders appeared and sent out the virus to shut them down. Before they could realize it wasn't working half of them were destroyed by the point defense of twenty _Mercury_ class battlestars. The rest launched their missiles and jumped away as the surviving Raiders clashed with the thousands of Vipers.

On Virgon, the night sky lit up in blazing glory as thousands of nuclear and conventional warheads went off. The civilian population headed for the deep shelters built forty years before or to the space ports trying to escape the planet before it was destroyed. As the attack intensified, hundreds of Raiders FTL'd into planetary range and started firing on the PDS that protected the planet. Knowing the virus wasn't working they launched hundreds of MIRV warheads at the satellites and the cities below as the inner defense Vipers engaged them in knife range.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Virgon Orbit;**

**Battlestar Atlantia;**

**CIC;**

Admiral Thomas Nagala listened to the reports of his nuclear strike even as he watched the Dradis as the last of the Cylon Heavy Raiders jumped away. Looking up, he snapped out his orders, "All ships advance into knife range. We have to cripple them. For the Lords of Kobol let our sword strike deep."

_Atlantia_ lunged forward as her engines went to full speed. Around her the survivors of the Colonial Fleet followed. Ships closed and died on both sides. As _Atlantia _and her Battlegroup battled deep into the formations of Cylon fleet, more of them FTL'd in behind the Colonial fleet trapping them in a pocket, or that's what they thought.

Thomas stared at the Dradis plot and the larger then normal Baseship in the center of the Cylon formation. It was falling back as he fought his way towards it.

"Admiral, we're taking heavy damage to the fleet. We must withdraw," the commander of the _Atlantia_ shouted over the main bow guns firing.

"There is no withdrawing, we have to cripple them to give Admiral Hays time to save as many people she can…"

"Sir, its madness. Some of our ships are running dangerously low on ammo and more Cylon baseships are FTLing in as were dying…"

"I know. Order all ships to ram if they run out of ammo…" Admiral Nagala staggered as the Atlantia took a massive hit to her portside landing bay from three nuclear warheads.

A loud metallic ripping sound was heard as the mighty ship staggered under more hits.

"Portside bay is gone. Main guns are down to twenty percent reserves. All surviving ships report moderate to heavy damage. Most of the Patrolstars are gone as well as half the Gunstars. Remaining vipers are down to twenty percent. Reinforcement Cylons Baseships are launching more Raiders."

Battlestars started blowing up as nuclear missiles from the reinforcements started smashing into them. Of the original forty-four Battlestars, only fourteen were left still fighting. The Gunstars were down to twenty-eight ships and only ten Patrolstars were left. On the Cylon side, thirty-nine Baseships, twenty destroyers and thirty-eight Supportstars were left including the Cylon flagship.

"Tell all ships to ram the enemy," Nagala ordered and then he looked around the damage CIC he saw the look in the crew's faces, "It's been an honor serving with you all. May the Lords of Kobol judge us as warriors and take us to their homes. Helm, our target is that big bastard in the center. I want them dead."

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Virgon Space;**

**Baseship One;**

John Cavil watched as the enemy ships dying. He was pissed because of the damages they have inflicted on his forces. It would take years to rebuild all the destroyed ships.

"The _Atlantia_ is heading right towards us," the six at the Dradis table reported.

"Destroy them. Destroy them NOW!" Cavil snarled out as he started to develop a tick. Cavil watched the giant flagship of the Colonial Fleet get closer and closer.

Missiles slammed into the hammerhead of the _Atlantia_ trying to destroy her before she rammed into the flagship. Cavil ordered the Baseship to fall back and ordered two Supportstars to ram the _Atlantia._ Before they could get close enough to hit the enemy ship, two Gunstars rammed them, destroying them.

"Frak, I hate resurrecting," Cavil said as the _Atlantia _slammed into the center section of the ship and both ships blew up.

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**Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.**

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_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	8. Chapter 7

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Six**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

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**.**

**Twenty minutes into the attack;**

**Deep in space;**

**Battlestar Galactica;**

Alarms started sounding and then the speakers blared to life.

"Commander Adama report to the CIC. All hands set condition red. This is not a drill."

Adama looked up from where he was looking at the photo from his desk. Getting up he walked out of his quarters and ran to the CIC. Entering the armored room he said, "What is going on?"

"Sir, we received a report that the Cylons are attacking. The _Andraste_ Battlegroup has been destroyed. Admiral Corman reports that the Cylons are attacking Picon then it went off the air. Here is Admiral Nagala's report," Lieutenant Felix Gaeta reported as he handed a clipboard to Commander Adama.

Adama read the paper on the board and picked up the handset, flipping it on to ship wide he said into the handset, "This is the Commander. Moments ago, this ship received word of a Cylon attack against our home worlds is under way. We do not know the size or the disposition or the strength of the enemy forces, but all indications point to a massive assault against Colonial defenses. Admiral Nagala has taken personal command of the Fleet aboard the Battlestar _Atlantia_ following the complete destruction of Picon Fleet Headquarters in the first wave of the attacks. How, why, doesn't really matter now. What does matter is that as of this moment, we are at war. You've trained for this. You're ready for this. Stand to your duties, trust your fellow shipmates, and we'll get through this. Further updates as we get them. Thank you."

Hanging up the handset, he looked at his lifelong friend, "Well it looks like we're at war."

"Aye, and this is a better way for the old girl to go out," Colonel Saul Tigh replied.

"Lieutenant Gaeta, spin up the FTL drive. We're jumping to Ragnar Anchorage," Adama ordered.

"Ragnar Anchorage? Why there, Sir," Felix asked. '

"If we're going to fight a war, we need bullets," Adama replied.

"Cylon Raiders closing," Saul said as he watched the Dradis board.

"FTL ready."

"Jump!" Adama ordered and the forty year old Battlestar vanished.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Emergency Exit number One for Veil One;**

Lieutenant Miles Ryder watched as the heavy lifters of the Veil rescued the stranded Vipers of BSG-14. The damaged Battlestar Hope had been able to rescue a hundred and ten Vipers before they ran out of room on her undamaged flight pod. The Gunstars and Patrolstars had rescued another forty-six.

"What a mess," Miles said to Ensign Alice Wayne.

"I know… We got more power spikes, looks like incoming ships."

"I hope it's not Cylons or those pilots are dead without power," Miles replied as he powered up the communications station.

"I agree… I have emergence. Looks like two… Holy Frak!" Alice gasped out as ship after ship started appearing.

"I…"

"I have fleet tankers, supply ships, repair ships, cargo ships… it looks like every support ship from the fleet," Alice blurted out.

Picking up the handset, Miles flipped to general broadcast, "This is defense satellite one-niner to all Colonial Fleet assets. I need you to help recover disabled Raptors and Vipers of BSG-14 if you can. We have over three hundred pilots and crews that need your assistance."

"This is Commander Joan Mi of the Constructstar _Renovate._ I'm launching all my SAR craft. Have the other ships of the fleet enter the Veil and notify Admiral Hays that the Cylons are attacking the Colonies," came the response from one of the giant ships.

"Roger Commander, I will contact them now. Welcome back to the Veil," Miles said when he recognized the name for the giant repair ship, "All ships form a line and head into the Veil. When you reach the end of the tunnel and contacted by one of the Firestars on picket duty."

Miles watched as the huge Constructionstar came to a stop and ships blossomed from its landing bays while the fleet ships headed into the Nebula. He was about to make a comment when more flashes started appearing.

"Now who?" Miles asked,

"I'm getting communications from civilian ships. I have tankers, liners, Agro ships, freighters demanding protection. _Renovate_ is launching her Vipers and Raptors."

"What a nightmare, send a message to the Veil we have incoming ships," Miles stated as he lifted the handset and adjusted the frequency to the civilian band, "All civilian craft. This is defense satellite one-niner. You will shut up and listen to me. I want you to form a double line behind the last colonial fleet ship and follow them; you are to keep three thousand feet minimum from each other. Liners go first followed by Agro ships then the tankers, freighters and everyone else."

Miles watched as the military support ships entered the tunnel. The first of them were six Colonial medstars. The Battlestar size ships slipped into the tunnel to be quickly followed by the repair ships.

"More dradis contacts," Alice shouted out over the blaring of the civilian ships demanding to go first.

"Who are they?" Miles asked as he turned towards the Dradis station.

"It's the Battlestar _Pontus_ and _Thalassa_ with six Gunstars and five Patrolstars," Alice replied as she grabbed the handset and snapped into it, "Freighter Roth, you will hold your place and allow the liners to go first."

Miles picked up his handset and changed the frequency back to Colonial fleet, "Battlestar _Pontus_ and _Thalassa_ report status."

"This is the Lieutenant Commander Matt Andrews in temporary command of the Battlestar _Pontus_ reporting. The _Pontus_ and _Thalassa_ have taken heavy damage from Cylon suicide craft. Admiral Nagala ordered all ships with moderate to heavy damage to jump to this location. Where are we?"

"Welcome to the Veil. We'll get you into the lineup ASAP so you can get with the repair ships to restore your damage. Medical ships will be waiting for your wounded," turning to look at Alice he said, "Alice halt all civilian ships. Tell them were sending crippled ships into the Veil."

"You got it boss," Alice replied and shouted into the handset, "LISTEN UP ALL OF YOU! WE HAVE CRIPPLED SHIPS THAT NEED MEDICAL AIDE. THEY ARE JUMPING TO THE HEAD OF THE LINE!"

Miles snickered and took a quick peek as his partner and was huffing from her shouting, "Damn girl, remind me not to piss you off."

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Battlestar _Pontus_;**

**CIC;**

Twenty-nine year old Lieutenant Commander Matt Andrews stood by the damaged Dradis station, smoke still drifting up from damaged stations around the room. Neat to the bulkhead wall a dozen bodies lay covered by sheets. One of them was a dark haired woman wearing the uniform of the Colonial Marines. Her body was riddled by bullet holes that he had put in her when she had killed Commander Sam Meadows and Admiral Kathy Horn. He still couldn't believe there were traitors in the fleet, but the proof was in front of him. The deaths of the commander and admiral, the sabotage on the _Thalassa _and the CNP backdoors all pointed to a conspiracy. The only reason that the _Thalassa_ and _Pontus_ were not destroyed was they were not supposed to get the upgrade until next month due to hunting down pirates in the Zodia belt.

The damage to the ship was critical to the air defense and her dead and wounded were horrible. He had eight hundred dead and seven hundred plus wounded from the explosions in the flight pods including most of the Viper wings. The ship had creaked and groaned throughout the FTL jump and he was sure she was going to come apart at the seams. At least the fires were out in the bays and medical was able to recover the wounded that survived the explosions.

"Helm, put us in line behind the liners. Someone notify medical to start moving our wounded to the emergency hatches on the hull for evacuation to the medical ships once we enter the depot. Contact damage control that we're hoping to dock with a repair ship so they need to get their damage easements ready to be turned over to the dock workers," Matt ordered.

The combined 'Yes, Sir' came from around the room as Matt watched the image of two liners in front of his ship enter the swirling tunnel. Passing past five defense satellites into the safe haven, he prayed for his family back on Picon had the same, but deep down in his heart he knew his mother, younger sister, wife, daughters, and son were dead.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Forty minutes into the attack;**

**Orbit of Scorpio;**

**Scorpion Fleet Shipyards;**

Alarms were sounding in the giant station that circled the planet of Scorpio. The might fortress was heavily armed and armored, why, because this was the main fleet repair and building facility for the Colonial fleet. The station was home to BSG-62 and hundreds or Raptors and Vipers. At any given time one to nine battlestars were docked with the massive station taking on supplies and today it was no different. Battlestar _Pegasus_ had pulled in the night before for a three month overhaul. The _Valkyrie_ class Battlestars _Skuld, Skögul,_ and_ Gunnr_ were docked taking on supplies along with the _Berzerk_ class support ships. Constructstar _McKenzie _had just pulled away from the station after refueling and construction supplies and was heading out to the jump point to rejoin Battlegroup-100 when the alarm sounded.

Vipers blasted off from their hangers as the docked ships crews rushed to rejoin their ships. Civilian ships were jumping away as ordered when the first of hundreds of FTL flashes were detected. It was a massive headache as four thousand viper pilots jockeyed to get their ships up into the air as deck crews rushed to replace the CNP program inside them. Three hundred Vipers had launched within twenty minutes of the attack on Picon and the warning from the_ Andraste_ Battlegroup. That warning had allowed the deck crews to replace the CNP program in the station and the ready Vipers and Raptors. By the forty minute mark, two thousand Vipers were in the air with another four hundred launching every few minutes.

The _Berzerk_ class support ships were pulling away from the station followed by the _Valkyrie_ class Battlestars _Skuld, Skögul,_ and_ Gunnr_ when the Cylons had appeared and started launching nuclear missiles at them. _Skuld _blew up when eight nuclear missiles slammed into her engine room, disintegrating the stern section of the ship. She was quickly followed in her death by her two sister ships. _Skögul_ broke in half when two missiles hit the ship in her midsection while _Gunnr_ was hit from all points by ten nuclear missiles and two hundred standard ship killer missiles and blew apart taking her whole crew with her. The _Berzerks_ were hit by a single nuclear missile each and vanished into oblivion. Forty civilian ships were caught in the holocaust of destruction as the missiles flew towards the station. Battlestar _Pegasus_ vanished just as a pair of nuclear missiles hit her space dock taking part of the dock with her.

Colonial Vipers and Raptors were taking a toll on the incoming missiles and Cylon Raiders when the first of ten Baseships appeared at fifty miles and started launching larger missiles at the station. On the backside of the station, several hundred support craft were jumping away with as many of the two hundred thousand personal while the defenses tried to take down the incoming missile swarms. Four giant liners docked in the civilian section had been packed with as many children and mothers as possible and detached when the baseships had appeared. Each liner carrying seven thousand civilians fired their main engines to get away from the station and was covered by forty Raptors loaded with air-to-air missiles.

In the CIC of the station, pandemonium was rampant as the crew tried to launch all their Vipers and Raptors, get the small craft away along with the civilian craft as well as try and stop the incoming swarms of missiles. Fifteen thousand point defense stations scattered around the station fired a deadly barrage of flak rounds into the incoming missiles while the medium and heavy KEW's started firing at the advancing Baseships. Suddenly one of the advancing Baseships vanished into FTL and repaired right on top of the station.

The massive ship rammed into the command tower of the station and exploded. Around the station, weapon stations stopped firing for a few seconds as the giant station latterly moved out of its stable orbit and away from Scorpio. This allowed a wave of nuclear and ship killer missiles to hit the station. Ten missiles hit in one section of the station, breaking her back. One section, over five miles long hurdled out into space while the remaining twenty miles of station started breaking up.

Once the station was destroyed, the thousands of Raiders concentrated on the remaining Vipers as the Raptors started FTLing away as they had been ordered to if the station was crippled or destroyed. Five of the Baseships vanished into FTL to join with the Battle at Virgon while the remaining four swept pass the debris field of the station and started heading for the planet. The back door was used on the PDS for the planet and they started shutting down as the Baseships started launching MIRV warheads at the undefended planet below.

Giant mushroom clouds blossomed up from the surface taking the major cities of Celeste and Argentum with them as well as many smaller cities, towns and villages. Four hundred and fifty million people lived on the planet and in the first minutes of the nuclear detonation, four hundred million people died as their cities, homes, work places and schools were obliterated from the planet. As soon as the last city was destroyed, the four Baseships vanished into FTL leaving the remaining humans to die from radiation poisoning as their world slowly went dark from the ash and smoke filling the atmosphere.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Veil One;**

**Battlestar Titan;**

Admiral Moiré Hayes stood at the Dradis station watching the tunnel collapse. With a grin she started issuing her orders, "Com, contact the _Coeus,_ and _Cronus_ to form up on us. Then send a message to the Warstars _Rhode, Peitho, Eunomia_ and the _Hermaphroditus_ to meet us at emergency tunnel two along with Gunstar division one and _Firestar_ division two as well. Then send a message to all Constructstars and _Leviathans,_ _Mammoth, Gigantic, _and _Behemoth _with the same orders. Have them pick up twelve of the _Octopus_ class tugs as well. Helm, set course for emergence tunnel two, one half speed. Get me Commander Torrez on Veil one."

"Commander Torrez on line one," came the reply.

Moiré picked up the handset and started talking, "Mathew, this is Hays. At this time, I'm promoting you to the rank of Rear Admiral and leaving you in temporary command of the Veil. I'm taking three of the Titans, four Warstars, and Gunstar division one, Firestar division two and all the Constructstars and four of the _Leviathans _with me. I want you to prep all Raptors for combat jumps. Each Raptor is to be armed with two twenty kiloton nuclear warheads and four air to air missiles. They will go out in groups of eight and look for enemy support ships. They are to leave the Baseships alone. After they expend their nuclear warheads I want them to start checking the Colonies, depots, mining facilities, for survivors. If they find a disabled ship, they are to contact you and see if they can rescue it. If not send them to me. We have to rescue as many survivors as we can. If they find a crippled warship they are to find me as soon as possible. I am sending you a list of targets of where I'll be so you can find me. I will only deviate from that list if another target comes up. Try and get me a survivor count, ship count, class and contents as soon as possible. Any questions?"

"No, Ma'am," Mathew replied.

"Good, send a message to the _Caprica_ and _Virgon_ they are to jump to Point Echo and stay hidden. If we find surviving ships we cannot escort, I'll send them to them first," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am, sending now," Commander Torrez reported, and then said, "Good luck and givem hell."

"Thank you Commander. See you soon. Titan out," Moiré replied and shut the com off.

"Approaching Emergency tunnel two Ma'am," came the reply from the helm station.

"Send out one of the stealthstars to check the entrance," Moiré ordered.

Down in the port flight bay, one of the four stealthstars that had been assigned to each Titan took off and headed down the tunnel to the exit where it exited next to the asteroid field that they used to gather their resources for the Veil. The craft came out and went dark as its stealth system came online. Its sensors reached out looking for any electronic signature. After fifteen minutes the pilot powered up his wireless.

"This is Sneaky One. Coast is clear, come on out."

The tunnel exit flared open and two _Firestar_ frigates slid out into normal space. They were followed by a pair of Gunstars and two of the Warstars before the _Titan_ came out. Behind her came her two sister ships and then the rest of the fleet.

"Tell the _Coeus,_ and _Cronus_ to form up on us in an arrowhead formation. I want the Constructstars and _Leviathans_ behind us with three Gunstars covering the rear. I want two of the Warstars on each side of the formation with the remaining Gunstars and Firestars in a globe formation around us. Our first jump will be to the battle site of the _Andraste_ to see if there are any survivors. Bring all Vipers and Raptors to standby, prepare to jump on my mark," Moiré ordered.

Around the three mammoth warships the smaller escort ships formed up while the repair ships tucked in close behind them with their guardians' protection their vulnerable rears. Ten minutes after forming up, they vanished into FTL space. Their mission, to look for survivors of the holocaust.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Armistice line;**

**_Andraste _battle site;**

Near the armistice line, a battlefield of wreckage floated through space. Ships and crews had died here on both sides while some of the wreckage survivors huddled in their dying ships as power started failing along with the air going bad. Then the flash of thirty ships appeared.

Moiré watched as the Dradis system stabilized. When it did, it showed a debris field stretching for miles.

"Anything?" Moiré asked.

"Checking… I have three large targets, and hundreds of smaller ones."

"Launch SAR Raptors and bring the larger targets up on the monitor," she ordered and looked up at the sixty inch screen. The screen came on and it was filled with drifting pieces of metal, bodies and blackened parts of the outer hulls of the ships.

"What a mess," someone gasped out.

"Find the first large piece," Moiré ordered.

"It's to our port about three miles away. Switching cameras," the Dradis officer replied.

The image shifted and focused on the stern and midsection of a blackened Battlestar.

"That's the stern and midsection of an old _Armageddon_ class escort Battlestars. If I remember right two were assigned as escorts to the _Andraste._ The _Whisper_ and _Bengal _which were due to be retired at the end of the year when the new _Mercury _class Battlestars_ Whisper _and _Bengal _were due to come online," Commander Rick Wilson said.

"It's the _Bengal;_ I can make out part of her name on the starboard flight pod. Have the _Mammoth_ take her into her dock. Next target," Moiré ordered.

The image shifted to show a pair of flight pods and the middeck section of the Battlestar _Whisper._ Both her engines and hammerhead bow were missing.

"Cannot be any survivors in that, the concussion of both the engine room and her forward section exploding would have killed everyone," Rick stated.

"That maybe, but there is a lot of material that we can recover from the wreck and what we don't use can be melted down into new ships. Send in the _Gigantic_ to get her. Now the third target," Moiré ordered.

While the first two _Leviathans_ were moving towards the wrecks of the two ships, the SAR Raptors were finding disabled Vipers and Raptors from the Battlegroup and towing them to the ships.

Moiré and Rick watched the main monitor as it shifted to the third target. All they could see was a thick field of debris.

"Ma'am, the other target is being covered by a large debris field. We'll need to move around it to see the third target," came the report.

"I can see that. Move us around it to port," Moiré ordered.

The _Titan_ fired her twelve engines and her bow thrusters fired to turn her a little to port. The ship drifted around the globe of destruction and finally the cameras of the ship settled onto a single object. It was the _Andraste_ drifting in space. Her entire hull was blackened and ripped apart. She was in a flat spin with what looked like one of her bow thrusters still firing. Her flight pods were drawn in and looked squashed as if a giant had squeezed the ship in the center. What startled everyone was the massive spear like object that had pierced the bow. The entire hammerhead of the ship seemed to be bulged outward from where the arm of the Baseship had punched deeply into the ship.

"By the Lords of Kobol," Rick stammered out.

"Send the _Leviathans _to take her to the Veil," Moiré ordered and said a silent prayer for the dead and then asked, "What about our SAR units?"

"SAR units have recovered seventy-three disabled Vipers and twelve Raptors. No other survivors detected," came the report from across the room.

"Ma'am, the _Mammoth, _and the _Gigantic_ have secured the _Bengal_ and _Whisper_ hulks and medical personal are already swarming the ships looking for survivors. They plan to jump away in five minutes. _Leviathan _will be ready to jump in twenty minutes," Rick said as he looked at the clipboard he had been handed.

"Good, dispatch Raptors to Armistice station and take a peek at it. Also send Raptors to Picon and Scorpio as well as Furlong Station. I want additional units to check out Morris Decommissioning Yard and Rock Point Depot to see if the Cylons have hit them yet. If not, notify both stations to jump any available ship to Echo Point where they'll be met," Moiré ordered.

Twenty minutes later the _Leviathan_ vanished into FTL as the first Raptors appeared. Two of the ten Raptors immediately declared emergencies and were brought in first on the starboard landing bay.

"Admiral, one of the Raptors reports Furlong station under attack by a single Baseship," the com officer reported.

With an evil grin on her face, Moiré reached for the handset and said, "Fleet wide."

"Fleet wide, Ma'am."

"This is Admiral Hays. I have received a report that Furlong Station is under attack by a single Baseship. We're going to go rescue them. The last censes of the station had the population at fifty thousand. We will jump to the station and take out the Baseship and give the station time to power up its FTL drive and jump to the Veil. All ships battle stations. All Vipers when we come out, you have a green light to engage any and all Cylon Raiders. Its time for revenge. So say we all," Moiré said as the alarms started sounding.

"FTL at eighty percent power and climbing."

"Flight pods secure."

"Weapons stations manned and ready."

"SAR units manned and ready."

"Engineering ready."

"Medical manned and ready."

"All stations manned and ready," Commander Wilson reported.

"Jump the ship," Moiré ordered.

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**Remember the ships links can be found on my main page and please leave a comment.**

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_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	9. Chapter 8

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**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Eight**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

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**.**

**.**

**One hour and twenty minutes into the attack;**

**Deep in space;**

**Near station Furlong;**

**Battlestar Titan;**

The _Titan_ appeared from FTL, flanking her were her two sister ships while behind them, the repair fleet was flanked by the Warstars, Gunstars and Firestars. In the distance the civilian station Furlong was battling against six hundred Raiders trying to get through its massive defensive fire. The stations old Mark V Vipers were holding their own against them, but they were being overwhelmed. Closing on the station, a lone Cylon Baseship had closed to minimum range and started launching missiles at the station that was trying to get the civilian population loaded onto the docked ships before it was destroyed. Vipers blossomed from all three of the Battlestars and formed up in front of them.

"Target the Baseship with the main guns and fire," Moiré ordered as she looked at the star shaped ship.

_Titan_ shuddered as the first of eight main guns fired. _Coeus,_ and _Cronus_ followed suit and twenty-four giant shells flew through space at just under the speed of light. The first two rounds from the _Titan_ missed, the next two hit one of the pylons on the top of the ship and it blew apart when the armor piercing round penetrated a magazine. One of _Coeus's_ rounds hit the center of the ship and a giant explosion blossomed out from the ship as the stored Tylium blew up. The remaining rounds hit the ship as it started coming apart.

The Raiders turned towards the station and started flying towards it. Defensive fire increased as the remaining Vipers tried to take them out. Explosions blossomed from the hull of the station as the Raiders that got through, slammed into its hull. Soon it was over as the last remaining Raiders FTLed out of the area.

"Get me the station on the wireless," Moiré ordered.

"Line three Admiral," came the call from the communications station.

Moiré picked up the handset and said, "This is the Admiral Hays aboard the Battlestar _Titan _to Furlong station. What is your status?"

"This is Furlong station Admiral, Director Mike Wall. It's good to see you. Our status is critical. Our FTL drive was sabotaged. We need evacuation. We have some ships but not enough."

"Can your FTL drive be repaired?" Moiré asked.

"If we had about six week, yes."

"Prepare to evacuate, I'm sending all my Repair ships to dock with you to remove all supplies and personal. Your vipers can land on them for refueling. Well cover you until the evacuation is complete. We'll then get your people away from here and to safety. Start filling your civilian ships first. Once their loaded, FTL coordinates will be given for them," Moiré ordered.

"Where are we jumping too?" Director Wall asked.

"You will find out. Now get going," Moiré ordered and shut the handset off.

"Admiral, what if we use some of the _Octopus_ tugs. They could jump the station to the Veil and tow her inside," Commander Rick Wilson asked.

"Damn, I didn't think of them. Contact _Octopus_ one and see if they can jump the station," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Rick replied and walked to the communication station.

Five minutes later the first of six tugs were latching on to the five mile high station. Moiré watched as the tugs started latching onto strategic places on the huge station and then started reading the reports on the clipboard she had been handed.

"Tugs are locked on. They are connecting up the drives with their wireless now…"

"Dradis contacts to port!"

Moiré's head snapped up and around from the clipboard she was reading. Her eyes settled on five large targets.

"Identify," Commander Wilson ordered.

"No IFF, they are not colonial," came the reply.

"Open fire. All batteries," Moiré snapped out.

_Titan_ shuddered as all her portside batteries opened up at once. She was quickly followed by _Cronus_ while the _Coeus _cut her speed to let her two sister ships pull ahead. Vipers blasted from all six landing bays while the enemy Raiders blossomed from the five Cylon warships. Vipers and Raptors started dancing the dance of death with the incoming Raiders while their mother ships blasted each other at point blank range like two boxers in a ring._ Cronus_ flack battery was knocking the incoming missiles out of space, but with two Baseships concentrating on her, missiles were going to get through. The first few were ship killer missiles and each missile blasted the armored plates off the side of the ship where they hit. Then the first nuclear missile slipped through and hit the bow of the ship and the explosion lit up the sky as the _Cronus_ drove right through the heart of a miniature sun. Plasma licked down the side of the ship, melting the point defense weapons to slag. Three of her medium KEWs were knocked off line as well as her main bow weapons. As second nuclear missile hit almost on the same spot and more weapons were knocked out and the engines fluctuated as the power feeds interrupted by circuit junctions blew up.

One of the Baseships took a dozen medium KEW rounds to its central trunk and the ship blew apart as it was still launching its Raiders. Titan switched her fire from the destroyed ship to the next and armor piercing rounds smashed into the armor of the second Baseship. Two more missiles hit the _Cronus_ right behind her port landing bay. The double explosion ripped a forty foot hole in her side, venting sixteen compartments to space and killing dozens of crewmembers.

"Intensify the firepower on the same Baseship that the _Cronus_ is attacking. Get me a damage report from the _Cronus,"_ Moiré ordered as the _Titan_ shuddered under a missile hit that made dust drift down from the ventilation system.

The _Titan_ took a double hit at the same time. One nuclear missile hit the portside landing bay while the other hit the massive hammerhead of the ship. Alarms started blasting through the speakers as damage reported flooded into the CIC.

"Switching targets. _Coeus_ has taken one of the Baseships under heavy KEW fire," Commander Wilson reported as an explosion detonated from one of the command stations as an I-Beam fell and swept through the station killing the two crewmembers.

Moiré watched on the monitor as another Baseship blew up under the combined firepower of the two _Titan_ class Battlestars. She was quickly followed by a third as the one the _Coeus_ was fighting blew up. Suddenly the last two Baseships blew up in nuclear fury as a dozen ten kiloton warheads slammed into them. As quickly as the attack started, it was over with the surviving Raiders jumping out.

"What happened?" Morie asked as she watched the two expanding balls of plasma.

"Thirty Raptors jumped in behind them and hit each with dozen nukes at point blank range. They lost six to return fire, but the rest jumped back to the repair ships," came the report.

"Damage reports? Viper losses," Moiré asked as she said a silent prayer of thanks.

"Minor damage to the _Titan._ Moderate damage to the _Cronus._ Her portside bay launchers are off line and she's lost twenty percent of her port defense weapons. Coeus took six hits and a near hit with a nuke when a Viper flew into it. We lost fourteen Raptors and seventy-nine Vipers. SAR has beacons for forty-nine seats and they are closing in for recovery," came the damage reports.

"_Cronus_ is to jump back to the Veil for repairs as soon as Furlong station jumps. The rest of the fleet will reform on us. Our next jump is to Point Echo. Notify the _Octopus_ tugs to rejoin us there. Start recovery of most of the Vipers, leave a single squadron as cap for now," Moiré ordered.

Over the next ten minutes the fleet reformed up as the Cronus and Furlong station vanished into FTL. When the last Vipers landed, Admiral Hays gave the order to jump the fleet just as a dozen Baseships started to appear. They quickly started launching Raiders and missiles as the Colonial fleet. Very quickly only the _Titan_ was left

"Gunner officer. Execute plan Mercury," Moiré ordered.

"Launching missiles, firing heavy KEWs," the gunnery officer replied.

"Get our birds down," Commander Wilson ordered.

Moiré watched as the _Titan_ launched a massive barrage of missiles and KEW rounds at the nearest Baseship. Raiders swooped into destroy the thirty nuclear missiles inbound to the Cylon fleet. Just as they neared the missiles to take them out, they detonated in a chain taking out most of the already launched Raiders.

As the last Viper landed.

"All Vipers landed," the CAG reported.

Moiré grinned as she watched the Raiders vanish and then she said, "Jump the ship."

Behind them, the closest Baseship exploded as twenty heavy KEW rounds slammed into its midsection, splitting the giant ship in two.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Point Echo;**

**Two hours after the attack;**

Moiré glanced at the Dradis screen as the last of the _Octopus_ class tugs took up position among the repair fleet and their escorts.

"Dradis contact," Commander Wilson said as he tapped the icon and it flashed a colonial fleet IFF.

"Ma'am the Raptor is transmitting… they report the complete destruction of Admiral Nagala's fleet and the Virgon defenses. Before they went down, its reported that hundreds of ships were able to escape Virgon," came the report.

"Do they have an estimate of Cylon losses?" Moiré asked.

"Ma'am of the one hundred and sixty newer type of Baseships, Admiral Nagala destroyed one hundred and three. Of the ninety destroyers, sixty-seven were destroyed and of the one hundred and thirty of the old class of Baseships eight-nine were destroyed. Virgon defenses destroyed three more Baseships and five destroyers before they were obliterated," came the reply.

Picking up the handset, she said, "Get me all ships on laser communications."

"Switching now… you're on Ma'am," the com officer stated.

"This is Admiral Hays. Minutes ago, I received a report on Admiral Nagala. Admiral Nagala and the combined fleet he assembled to fight the Cylons at Virgon have been defeated. However, he took a large chunk of the bastards with him. Admiral Nagala and the Colonial forces with him took out one hundred and three Baseships, sixty-seven of their destroyers, and eighty-nine of their old Baseships. This is a major defeat and victory for us. We don't know the makeup of the Cylon fleet, but can say this. Admiral Nagala must have put a large wrench in their fleet disposition. His and his people's sacrificed allowed hundreds of ships to escape Virgon and jump to the Veil where we'll decided what to do. I want to say this. May the Lords of Kobol and the Gods of War watch over those valiant warriors and may their spirits help us in our struggles. So say we all.

"I want all ships to prepare to jump. We're jumping to Scorpio to check for survivors. Any damaged ship is to be grabbed and jumped back to the Veil. Support ships are to defend the repair ships while the _Titan_ and _Corus_ will cover everyone with their Vipers. SAR Raptors will launch from all ships and check for disabled Vipers and Raptors. They will then tow them to the ships for recovery. Heavy lifters will check for disabled civilian craft and jump them to the Veil. We have a report of a large chunk of the shipyard adrift. _Octopus_ tugs will latch on to it and jump it back to the Veil to be searched for survivors and supplies.

"I want all availed Raptors and shuttles to check Scorpio for survivors. If any are found, get them up to the repair ships. They have the capacity to carry them to safety. So all hands prepare to FTL. Warstars, Gunstars and Firestars first. Then the Titans followed by the rest. Globe formation around the support ships. Launch all Vipers, Raptors and Heavy Lifters as soon as the ships stabilize. That is all," Moiré ordered as she shut the handset off.

"Are we ready?" Moiré asked as she looked at Commander Wilson.

"Admiral, the fleet stands ready," Commander Wilson reported.

"Then jump the fleet and tell all ships good luck," Moiré stated as she gripped the handrail to the Dradis station.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Day of the attack;**

**Scorpio system;**

The ships started appearing from FTL. First the Warstars, Gunstars and Firestars appeared. Then the two giant _Titan_ class Battlestars appeared in a giant flash of light. As Vipers, Raptors and Heavy Lifters started launching, inside the ring of smaller warships, the repairs hips and tugs appeared. Dradis signals reached out looking for any danger and none was found.

"Launch the shuttles," Moiré ordered as her eyes flickered over the Dradis screen.

"Shuttles launching and taking up station on our starboard side. Raptors are descending toward Scorpio looking for survivors," Commander Wilson reported.

"Admiral, the _Corus_ reports they have the segment of the shipyard insight. It's moving away from Scorpio at three hundred miles an hour. Warstars _Eunomia_ and the _Hermaphroditus_ are escorting ten of the _Octopus_ tugs out to her. The remaining six tugs are latching onto larger chunks of the station and preparing to jump away," came a report from the secondary Dradis station.

"Ma'am, Heavy Lifters have locked onto a group of two hundred disabled Vipers and Raptors. They are preparing to take the disabled ships under tow, but suggest several of the Constructstars close on their location to make each trip shorter," the com officer reported.

"Send to the _Hephasetus, __Resource_ and the _Refit_ to close with them along with the Warstars _Rhode,_ and_ Peitho _to escort them. What about the debris field any survivors?" Moiré asked with hope in her voice for three hundred thousand people called Scorpio shipyards home, either permanently or temporary while ships were under repair or loading.

"Nothing yet, it's a large field…" Reported Ensign Maria Anderson at the com station replied and cut off her report as tears started running down her face.

"Ensign, are you ok? Do you need to be relived?" Moiré asked as she saw the tears.

"Yes, Ma'am and no Ma'am," the young woman replied.

"Let me guess, you had a family member on the station?" she asked as she walked over to the girl.

The girls sniffed and nodded her head, "My twin brother was the control officer Scorpio shipping. He handled all the liners that docked with the station."

"Then he may have survived. The station had orders to get as many civilians off the station during the attack. So think positive Ensign Anderson," Moiré replied as she patted the young girls shoulder.

Blowing her nose, the girl said, "Thank you, Ma'am. I will."

Patting the girl once more, Moiré turned and looked at the CIC personal, "That goes for all of you. Think positive that your loved ones could have survived. The plan Admiral Corman and Nagala came up with had the heads of all Colonial attaches to the space docks, and spaceports to get every civilian craft off the stations and ports to jump to the Veil after they were loaded with as many civilians as possible. By now, if the plan went as planned there should be hundreds of craft in the Veil where they'll be safe…"

"Ma'am, Raptors over Scorpio have started picking up survivors. They have called in the shuttles to help with evacuation. Estimated count is seventy thousand so far and climbing. Six Raptors landed at a park where they found eight hundred children and their families on a school camp out," Ensign Anderson reported.

"See, that's fantastic," Moiré stated as she walked back to the Dradis station, "Send the rest of the shuttles in to pick up as many as possible and get them up to the repair ships. They can each take about ten thousand survivors. Have all shuttles launched from every ship. The more people we can load up at one time, the more we can save. Remember, we're on a time limit here."

"Sending now, Ma'am," Anderson replied as she started speaking into her headmic.

"Ma'am, several heavy lifters have locked onto six disabled liners and jumped away with them. Two have been left behind due to heavy damage."

"Have them towed to one of the _Leviathans_ and docked on their upper pylons. They can be repaired and used for evacuees," Moiré ordered as she scanned the Dradis board.

Moiré watched the Dradis board, the clock and listened to the evacuation shuttles shuttling back and forth from the ships to the devastated planet. "Its time. Get all the shuttles back aboard. We have another jump…"

"Ma'am, I'm picking up a transmission from sector 373.37. It's ordering all FTL units to jump to somewhere due to being discovered by Cylon Raisers. Sorry I couldn't make out where they were jumping to over the static. But they are saying they have to leave the non-ftl capable ships behind," Ensign Anderson reported.

"Notify all ships that the _Titan_ and _Corus_ are jumping to those coordinates and they rest are to jump to us as soon as all shuttles are recovered. CAG, get our birds in the barn and have all the rest of them ready for launch. We jump in sixty seconds," Moiré ordered as she looked at the clock for the FTL engine and it spun up to sixty and started counting down.

The counter was counting down as the last of the Vipers made their combat landings. The last one landed just twenty seconds before the jump and then the two Battlestars vanished into FTL space to appear in sector 373.37 to find twenty-nine civilian ships clustered together.

"Get me a ship class, type and launch a quarter of the Vipers and Heavy lifters we have left," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Ensign Anderson replied as she turned to her com station and started querying the ships. Maria started writing the information down on the clipboard beside her as it came in.

Moiré watched as the hundreds of Vipers launched from each of the two Battlestars.

"Ma'am, I have the ship type and class you wanted. We have two water ships, three Agro ships, nine liners, eight cargo ships, two barges, one scrap hauler, two electronic ships or flattops as they are called and the last two are Tylium tankers."

"Have the Heavy lifters pair up on the liners, cargo ships, barges, and the scrap hauler and jump them away. As soon as the rest of the fleet arrived, the Agro ships, water ships, electronic ships and tankers are to dock with the repair ships and then they are to be jumped away…"

"Dradis contacts! Thirty and climbing," Commander Wilson reported.

"IFF?"

"Negative, they are Cylon Raiders."

"Send in the Vipers they must keep them off the Civilian ships," Moiré ordered and then looked at Ensign Anderson, "Ensign, contact the civilian ships. Find out where the FTL capacity ships went."

"Yes, Ma'am," Maria replied and turned back to her station.

"Vipers are engaging."

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**1*1*1**

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**Day of the attack;**

**Sector 373.37;**

**Bolt Squadron;**

Captain Isaac 'Hound dog' Wells pressed the throttle of his Viper to full burn. Isaac jerked the nose up towards a Raider that was heading towards a one of the liners that had two Heavy Lifters about to dock with it. Pressing the firing stud on the joystick, a burst of 25mm rounds from the twin KEWS blew the Raider apart just as it opened its missile bays to launch.

Glowing rounds went flying past his ship, and he jerked it into a hard roll to the right. Flipping a switch on the side panel mounted to the left of his cockpit as soon as he leveled out. Tiny thrusters in the bow flipped the ship over and he spotted the trio of Raiders closing on him. Pressing the firing button just as they started to split up, he caught the lead one in the nose and it blew apart as he barreled towards it. A red mist settled over his craft as he flew through the debris field after the Raider that jinxed to his right.

Flying at full afterburners he closed with the enemy craft when it dipped its nose and fired a burst of KEW rounds. The rounds hit a Viper that was chasing another Raider and it exploded into a cloud of metal debris.

"Spooky bought it," Isaac reported.

"So did Swan, but she took six out before they took her out…"

"Raiders are jumping away," Isaac said as the Raider he was chasing vanished into FTL.

"The fleet is here."

Isaac turned in his seat to look behind him and saw one of the _Leviathans_ appear, "All Bolt units form up on the civilian ships."

**.**

**1*1*1**

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**Day of the attack;**

**Sector 373.37;**

**CIC of the _Titan;_**

Moiré watched the main monitor as the civilian ships docked with the repair ships. As soon as each ship docking ports were filled the ship jumped away. As the last repair ship landed, she said, "Land all the birds. Have the rest of the fleet form up on us. We're jumping to Caprica."

Commander Wilson picked up his handset and started issuing his bosses orders. The image on the main monitor changed to show the hundreds of Vipers landing on the starboard flight pod. On another monitor it showed them landing on the portside landing pod. Ten minutes after the order the last of the Vipers and the SAR units had returned

Picking up the handset, she said, "Get me all ships."

"You're on Admiral."

"This is the Admiral. I know you're all tired but I want to check Caprica for enemy Baseships. The more we can destroy before they can consolidate, the better the survivors have on the planets. We will launch a quarter of all Viper squadrons when we come out of FTL and all Raptors. Raptors are to jump to the planet and search for survivors while we destroy any toasters we encounter. We jump in ten minutes. That is all." Hanging up the handset she turned to Commander Wilson.

"Rick, tell Colonel Banes that he has a go with his unit. I want the depository stripped," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Commander Wilson replied and picked up his handset and started issuing the Admiral's orders again.

The FTL clock slowly counted down until a voice called out.

"Thirty seconds to FTL," one of the helmsmen reported.

"Prepare to jump," Moiré ordered as the alarm changed over the ships speakers.

"Five, four, three, two, one…"

"Jump!"

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_**First Edited By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	10. Chapter 9

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Nine**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**Two hours into the attack;**

**Caprica Orbit;**

**Battlestar _Titan_;**

A bright flash lit up space around the planet Caprica as the _Titan_ and her fleet appeared from FTL. Moiré's eyes locked on to the Dradis target circling in static orbit over once was the capital of the twelve colonies. Scattered around the massive ship was the debris field of murder. For murder it was when the civilian and military space stations were destroyed with no warning. What chilled her more was the wrecked Battlestar spiraling towards the planet below.

"IFF on that target?"

"Negative," came the reply.

Target lock on Cylon Baseship."

"Locking on. Baseship is launching Raiders to join with the ones closing with us."

"Fire all bow guns and launch Vipers," Moiré ordered and the bow of the massive ship lit up as the heavy KEWs fired at once. Eight rounds flew through space at just under the speed of light and slammed into the central section of the enemy ship.

The ship blew apart as the high explosive armor piercing rounds ripped the insides to shreds.

"All defensive batteries open fire on incoming Raiders. Prepare to launch all Raptors, shuttles, Heavy lifters for the fleet," Moiré ordered.

"Defensive batteries opening fire on incoming Raiders. Raider count is at fifty-three… ah fifty now."

"That's ok WEPS, just make sure they are all destroyed. CAG, I want SAR units on that Battlestar. See if two of the Warstars can lock on to her and pull her back up so we can check her for survivors," Moiré ordered as her eyes locked onto the ship again.

"Sir, it's the _Valkyrie_ class Battlestar _Randgríð_. Her bow is caved in, she has a massive hole in her engine room, two of her engines are wrecked and her port landing bay is shredded," Commander Wilson reported.

Outside the ship, the fifty Cylon Raiders were being destroyed by the thousands of KEWs of the fleet. In less than ten seconds the last Raider blew up less than a thousand meters from the ship.

"Last raider destroyed. Warstars _Pan_ and _Tyche_ are closing with the _Randgríð_ to render aid. We're launching all Raptors, Heavy lifters and shuttles to the planet…"

"Bring up Caprica City on the main monitor," Moiré ordered and her eyes lifted to look at her home city. The once jewel of the planet was still burning from being hit by several nuclear warheads. Her mighty buildings were blasted apart and twisted into ruin. Where the capital building had once stood, a two hundred foot deep crater was all that was left and it was slowly filling with water from the broken water mains of the city. The gravrail that had split the city into zones were twisted and flattened. Several trains had been strewn across the city like a child's toy thrown in a temper tantrum. The image shifted to show the ground based spaceport in flames. Several ruined ships were shattered amongst some that had survived. As she watched several Raiders came in strafing the grounded ships.

"Zoom in on the spaceport," Moiré ordered.

The image zoomed into the spaceport and showed hundreds of people using what cover they could as they tried to get aboard the undamaged ships. Marines and civilian personal were firing at the attacking craft.

"Order several squadrons of Vipers to Caprica spaceport and take out those Raiders. Com stations. See if you can raise any of the grounded ships. Tell them to hold off launching until as many civilians are aboard as possible. Let them know we'll supply them with coordinates of a safe zone once they lift off," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," came the multiple replies from the communications stations.

Moiré watched as Vipers plunged through the enemy crafts. In the first pass twenty Raiders were destroyed before they knew the colonial forces were there.

"Admiral, we have a report from Raptor 1287. They report that Marshal Base was hit with a neutron bomb. No sign of life, but they report the base is in tack and request Heavy Lifters to lift off fifty Mark VII Vipers from the harden pens, forty MK V Raptors twenty refulers, and thirty-five Heavy lifters. Second report, they found ten heavy assault shuttles and thirteen passenger ones. The ammo bunkers look in tack as well."

"Have the remaining alert Vipers stand down and their pilots report to the shuttles to be ferried down. Enlist some deck crews to go with them along with marine security. Contact the _Corus_ and notify her to have her ammo shuttles stand by for ferrying duty. Let's see what we can strip out of the armories and base commissary," Moiré ordered and then her eyes flashed back to the image of the spaceport.

"Commander Wayne, are those ships at the end of the spaceport what I think they are?" Moiré asked as she looked at the five ships.

"Yes, Ma'am, you're looking at five cargo haulers. What about them?" Rick asked.

"See if they can fly. If so get them over to Marshal Base and strip it of what they can," Moiré ordered.

"Ma'am, I have a second report from Marshal Base, they report thousands of survivors inside the deep bunkers. They were able to evacuate the base personal to the bunkers when the warning came in that Picon was under attack. They're requesting instructions."

Damn… Send a raptor to Point Echo and get all of the Assaultstars out here. They will be able to lift the survivors out with their drop ships," Moiré ordered as she watched the monitor.

"Shuttles heading for Marshal Base, eta is ten minutes. Base personal are fueling up the ships from the underground tanks. Supplies are being stacked at the base runway."

Moiré turned and looked at the Com station and replied, "Good. What…"

"Cargo ships on the way from Caprica City."

"Warstars _Pan_ and _Tyche_ have docked with the _Randgríð_ and are pulling her back into space. SAR crews are going aboard now to search for survivors. Commander Miller of the _Pan_ reported he thinks he can jump her back to Point Echo so we can salvage her. He has crews on EVA to check her hull docking ports. If he can dock with them, he says he will get her home to base."

"That's fantastic, we'll need all the warships we can get," Moiré replied.

"Marines are entering the depository at this moment. No sign of survivors or Cylons. Colonel Mallard reports they are loading the containers right now. Priority is the Gold, Silver, and Platinum. They will get the other precious metals and gems as they can… Colonel Mallard reports he has a present being loaded on in one of the storage containers for you."

"A present? What is he talking about? Get him on the horn," Moiré ordered as she picked up the handset.

"You're on, Ma'am."

"Colonel Mallard, what present are you talking about?" Moiré asked.

"Well Ma'am, when we landed at the depository. I had my shuttle land outside the gates so we can check for survivors. You would be surprised at what I'm looking at," Colonel Josh Mallard replied.

Confused Moiré looked at her second and command and then held the handset to her mouth, "Well tell me."

"Anderson and Andrew Spirits warehouse," came the reply.

"You're robbing a liquor store?" Moiré asked in shock.

"Well, yes Ma'am. We're also taking all the tobacco from the store next to it."

"Only you Colonel, only you. Make sure it's kept under lock and key until we get back to the Veil. I'll send you another container."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I have several squads of Marines over at the hospital as well. We're emptying it of all supplies and as much equipment as we can," Josh replied.

"Ma'am the _Pan_ just jumped away with the _Randgríð_… Dradis contact!" Commander Wilson reported.

"IFF?" Moiré asked.

"Their colonial. I have nine Assaultstars approaching orbit."

"Send the order for them to take up orbit near us. They are to send all shuttles and Raptors down to Marshal Base for evacuation of survivors and supplies…"

"Dradis contact. NO IFF. Incoming Baseship to port. More contacts, enemy Raiders inbound."

"All guns fire on that Baseship. Order all Vipers to engage enemy Raiders. Moiré ordered as the Dradis board changed to show the huge ship as it started belching missiles as the colonial ships.

"Missiles inbound. Two hundred count and climbing. I have radiological signatures."

Both Battlestars opened up with their light KEWs on the incoming Raiders and missiles while the heavy and medium KEWs took the Baseship under attack. The rest of the fleet consolidated their firepower on the incoming missiles while the _Firestar_ frigates shifted position so they straddled both Battlestars.

"_Impulsive_ has been hit on the stern by a nuclear warhead. She's venting air but her batteries are still firing," Commander Wilson reported.

Moiré cringed as she thought of the little escort ship, "Have her fall back if she can. If not, evacuate to the nearest ship," Moiré ordered as the _Titan_ shuddered under a direct hit.

"Impulsive reports her engines are off line. They're abandoning ship now."

"Non nuclear hit on the port bay. Compartment A-101 and 102 open to space. Light KEW battery 822 destroyed. Launch tubes thirty and thirty one off line."

"Dispatch medical and repair crews to the damaged section. Make sure damaged sections are…"

A blinding flash lit up the room from the main monitor as the _Impulsive_ blew up from a fifty kiloton nuclear warhead.

"_Impulsive _has been destroyed." Rick reported.

"Rick, how many got off?" Moiré asked as she watched the Baseship blow apart.

"If both shuttles were fully loaded, then about a third of the crew was able to evacuate after her engines were knocked out," Rick reported.

"Better than nothing. Have them land on the _Titan. _Let's give the CAP a break and rotate them so they can rearm and refuel. One squadron at a time on each landing bay…"

"Ma'am, all the small craft from the Assaultstars have landed and they're loading up now. All five of the cargo ships from Caprica spaceport have landed as well and they're loading them up with the stockpiles of munitions."

"Have a report from Caprica Spaceport. All surviving ships have been loaded and they still have about twenty thousand people trying to get onboard. Airport security is being swamped and there have been many killed trying to force their way onto the ships."

"Contact all three _Harrier_ class Assaultstars to land at the far end of the spaceport and take on as many as they can. Notify the commanders to stuff them as many people on each. It's only a short hop to the Veil where we can sort them out. Tell them to hurry. The clock is ticking," Moiré ordered as she watched the Dradis station for the enemy.

"What about their shuttles?" Commander Wilson asked.

"They can land on the _Aethon_ and _Pyrois_ class ships," Moiré replied as she popped her neck.

"Ma'am the _Hawk, Runner_ and _Hound_ have landed at the spaceport and are commencing the loading of the survivors."

"Contact all the civilian craft at the spaceport. They are to start lifting off and rendezvous with the _Hawk, Runner_ and _Hound_ when they finish loading. Commander Owens of the _Hawk_ will give them the coordinates of safe haven and they'll jump together," Moiré ordered.

Moiré watched as the timer counted down and another thirty minutes had gone by on the clock. The _Hawk_ and her sister ships had lifted off and vanished into FTL with the civilian ships while a continues stream of small craft lifted off from the planet to the fleet. Eight crippled liners, and six cargo ships were picked up using paired Heavy lifters and carried over to Marshal Base where they were being stuffed full of medical supplies and equipment.

"Cargo ships lifting off from Marshal Base. They are fully loaded with what supplies they could take with them. Heavy lifters are flying cargo containers in from the spaceport and they'll start filling them as well. All grounded small craft have been ferried up to the fleet. Raptors and shuttles are hitting the smaller town's medical facilities and food distribution centers."

."What about the Presidential bunker?" Moiré asked.

"Gone, it looks like a ground penetration nuke punched deep into the mountain and collapsed it."

"Ma'am, we have survivors at the medical school outside of Delphi. Estimated count is two thousand medical personal and eight hundred patients."

"Fantastic, send some of the shuttles over there and get them up to _Titan_ and _Corus_. When we get back to the Veil, we'll transfer them to the medical ships. Tell them to hurry, we're running out of time," Moiré ordered.

"Delphi spaceport is empty. All remaining ships are scrap, but there are burn spots on the sides of the concourse where it looks like the ships just took off from that location."

"Then they should be on the way to the Veil. Notify all Raptors, shuttled, fuel carriers and Heavy lifters to expedite their missions. I want to get underway in twenty minutes. If we don't have it all, then leave it…"

"Heavy lifters are lifting off from the depository. They were able to strip it and they are jumping for the Veil. Colonel Mallard reports they emptied the nearby banks and jewelry stores as well. He also emptied the book stores…"

"The book stores?" Commander Wilson asked.

"Yes, Sir, he says the reading material in the bathrooms needs changing… Uhh, Sir, he also emptied the music and video stores in the nearby mall. Inside the mall they found hundreds of teens and young families hunkered down in the ruins. They are being loaded up on his combat shuttles for liftoff."

Shaking his head, Commander Wilson replied, "Very well. Tell the Delphi teams to hurry up."

Suddenly the Titan shuddered and the alarms started going off.

"What just happened?" Moiré ordered.

"Ma'am a Raider appeared off our bow and rammed us. Minor damage to compartment 82 and 83 defense KEW 22 and 23 off line. It looks like only the fuel stores detonated when the ship hit us otherwise the two compartments would have been ripped open," the damage control officer reported.

"I don't like this. Order all Raptors to cease searching for survivors and return to base. Start landing most of the Viper cap and get those shuttles off the ground," Morie ordered as one of the ensigns walked over and handed her a clipboard.

Taking the board, she read the new reports and signed off on them, "Ensign, see that they are entered in to the log."

"Yes, Ma'am," the young man replied and walked away.

"Heavy lifters lifting off from Marshal Base with the packed liners and storage containers, they are spooling up their FTL drives now. Colonel Mallard reports all civilians loaded up along with his marines. They are heavily overloaded and heading for the barn. Delphi shuttles are inbound as well, last shuttle is lifting off now.

"Have all ships prepare…

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**1*1*1**

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**Four hours into the attack;**

**Sector 1354.22;**

**Just past the Redline;**

**Cylon Resurrection Ship_;_**

John Cavil sat up in the tank with a gasp as the slime and water ran down his body, "Frak I hate resurrecting," he said as a towel was offered to him.

"Welcome back John. We have a situation," Anthony Cavil told his clone.

"What is it? We destroyed the Colonial Fleet, yes we took heavy casualties but we can come back and they cannot," John replied as he stepped into the open shower.

"Some of the Colonials have escaped. One group is being led by the Battlestar _Galactica_ and we estimate he has about sixty ships with him…"

"Send the tenth fleet after them. That should be enough firepower to wipe out that piece of crap ship…"

"That piece of crap has already destroyed one of our Baseship at Ragnor. We're currently tracking them. It seems one of the ships has one of our sisters onboard and she's sending out a subspace beacon."

"Good then the tenth fleet should have no trouble overwhelming them. Now what is the other problem?" John asked.

"It seems that the Colonial fleet has a few more ships then we thought and we cannot access them through the virus."

"What ships?"

"A few Battlestars are still fighting along with their support ships. They are rounding up civilian ships and jumping them away," Anthony replied.

"To where?" John asked as he shut the water off and started drying himself.

"We don't know."

"Do we know the classes of ships in this fleet?"

"No, we're waiting on the commanders of the destroyed Baseships to resurrect."

"Jump them in the queue. We need to know so we can destroy them. Now what about the invasion fleets? Are they ready to go?"

"We have fifty Supportstars ready to start landing centurions on Caprica, Scorpio, Picon, Virgon and Tauron with twenty thousand on each ship. Another thirty ships are set to land their troops on the remaining planets…"

"FRAK! Why didn't we know those _Titan_ class battlestars were active?" a number one snarled out as he stepped out of the resurrection tub.

"Titans? What are you talking about? They are in the reserve fleet at the Veil which should be a nuclear waste zone by this time," John stated as he pulled on his clothes.

"All I know is I was in command of the group to take out Refuge Station when three _Titans_ class Battlestars jumped in along with a dozen other ships including repair ships. We never had a chance under their combined firepower."

"Get a hold of Paul on Baseship Ninety or find his matrix in the resurrection system if he is being uploaded and get me the information on the Veil attack. Prepare the twelfth fleet and jump them to the entrance of the Veil. If it hasn't been destroyed, they're to force their way into the Veil and destroy everything there," John ordered to his second in command.

"Should we hold off on the invasion fleets?"

"No, but send five Baseships with each primary attack. We're behind schedule because of Nagala and bring up the second command Baseship. I'll take command from her.

"Already did. The ship is sitting off to our portside waiting for you. Good luck brother," Anthony replied.

"And to you, make sure we start getting the reserve ships ready. We have a lot of hunting of civilian ships so they don't get away. Also dispatch all remaining destroyers to take out the remaining reserve depots as well," John ordered as he walked out the door.

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**1*1*1**

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**Four hours into the attack;**

**Caprica Orbit;**

**Battlestar _Titan_;**

Moiré watched as the last of the civilian and Assaultstars jumped away. Looking at the Dradis board she saw that the last three shuttles were heading up from the devastated world. With a small sigh, she knew there were many more survivors on the planet, but they didn't have the room for them at this time.

"Ma'am, Dradis contact over the city of Phoebus."

"Numbers and IFF?" Moiré ordered

"No IFF but I have twelve no fifteen ships lifting off from the Phoebus shipyard."

"That's a ship construction yard. Contact them they maybe new ships that were finished or waiting for delivery to their new owners," Morie ordered.

"Contacting them now," came the reply from the com station.

Moiré watched the fifteen ships lift off from the planet.

"Ma'am, I have a director Vincent White on line one."

Grabbing the handset, she said, "Director White. Identify your ships or they WILL be fired upon."

"Admiral Hays, this is Director White of the Phoebus Shipyard. When the attack was announced, I gave my people thirty minutes to gather their families and get them to the shipyard bunker. The missile that was meant to destroy Phoebus missed and landed in the ocean. I have eighty thousand civilians on forty. The next fifteen are lifting off now. Please don't fire on us. I have ten brand new intersun liners, ten liners meant for Picon Limited, one water ship, three foundry ships, a pair of scrap haulers, two midsize Tylium tankers, one refinery ship, two small craft haulers, eight cargo ships fully loaded and the medical ship Giver of Life. All the ships are FTL capable and fully fueled and supplied. We been listening to your communications, but wanted to wait to contact you until we were fully loaded. In fact the two small craft haulers are loaded with forty MK V Raptors, forty-four Mark VII Vipers, six Mark VIII Vipers and four stealthstars that we were building for the fleet…"

"Mark VIII Vipers? What are those?" Moiré asked.

"They are experimental Vipers with FTL drives…"

"Director, we'll talk when were all safe. I assume your people are engineers and ship builders. They will be desperately needed. I'm sending you the coordinates for our jump. Get the rest of your ships in the air. We jump in five minutes," Moiré ordered.

"Right away Admiral and thank you for not firing on us," Vincent replied.

"Fifteen more targets lifting off from Phoebus."

"Good there should be ten more. As soon as they're in the air, send them the coordinates for the emergency exit to the Veil. We jump right after them," Moiré ordered as she drummed her fingers on the rail to the Dradis station.

"Ma'am, why don't you sit in your command chair. Hovering like this is not good for you. We know our jobs," Commander Wilson suggested as he leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"You're right Commander," Morie replied as she walked to her command chair and sat down and watched the Dradis image.

"Ten more ships lifting off now. They are on full burn to join us. I'm sending the coordinates to all the civilian ships now."

"Thank you Com. Notify all ships that as soon as the civilian ships jump away, we'll follow. Send the message to the Intrepid she has a go to jump to Point Echo and notify all the ships there to jump to emergency exit two and start entering the Veil," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"First civilian ships have just jumped. Twenty-three more to go," Commander Wilson reported.

"All ships spooling up their FTL drives at this time. Corus reports the last of the shuttles have landed. Last of the Vipers are landing as well."

"New Dradis contacts. Fifteen targets. NO IFF! Cylon Baseships launching Raiders and missiles!"

"All batteries, open fire. Order the civilian ships to jump away, now!"

Space erupted into explosions as every warship threw up a wall of shrapnel that could be danced on in front of the advancing Raiders and missiles blowing them out of existence. Behind the warships the civilian ships flashed out as their FTL drives spun up to full power. The larger KEWs of the _Titans_ and _Thor_ class Warstars exploded into activity as they hurled their heavy rounds at the approaching Baseships and Supportstars. One of the Supportstars was hit dead center from the _Titan_ and blew apart.

"Last civilian ship is gone."

Moiré took one final look at her home and replied, "Jump the fleet."

All but one ship vanished into FTL. The Warstar _Tyche_ failed to jump. Just as she was powering up her FTL, she was hit by six fifty kiloton nuclear warheads and vanished into oblivion.

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	11. Colonial Ships

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**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Colonial Ships  
**

.

.

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Ships mentioned:**

People have asked on what ships are in the fleet at this time. I have put a list of known ships from the chapters and expanded with some of the rescued ships. If you look at the ships. Say the Titan you will see the ship name, then a * then three ! then two sets of numbers. The * says the ship is at full strength. The !, !, ! represent the following. Non crewed (!) Destroyed (!) or Damaged/Crippled ships (!) the first set of numbers is the current crew strength or survivors from the attack.

The second is civilian/rescues. On the Civilian craft, I added the crew to the personal count. Now if you see a x2 x40 etc etc that means I have more ship names to come up with on those classes. If you have a suggestion for a ship name, send me an email, ship class, and the name. I'll give credit.

The next chapter will be the consolidating, repairs, and relocation of the civilians to other ships so they are not overloaded. They will all be working on restoring the damaged ships, but not all will be able to be repaired

.

**Ships Mentioned * is at full strength**

**! Non crewed ships**

**! Destroyed ships**

**! Damaged/Crippled ships**

**Columbia Class Battlestars**

Caprica * (1800)

Virgon * (1800)

**.**

**Titan Class Battlestars**

Titan * ! (12272) ((3922))

Coeus * ! (11087) ((4082))

Cronus * ! (12217)

Crius * (12500)

Leto (4500)

Asteria (4500)

Menoetius (4500) MD (4000) Beds (8000)

Eos (3500)

Helios (3500)

Selene (3500)

.

**Mercury class Battlestar**

Atlantia !

Gauntlet !

Pontus ! (2872)

Thalassa ! (3199)

.

**Andraste class Battlestar**

Andraste ! (6500) out of 10000

.

**Nova class Battlestars**

Admiral Hope ! (5698) out of 8000

.

**Jupiter class Battlestars**

Juno !

Jupiter !

Python ! (1262)

Mystic !

Acalypha !

.

**Valkyrie class Battlestar**

Randgríð ! (983)

Skuld !

Skögul !

Gunnr !

.

**Armageddon class escort Battlestars**

Whisper ! (276)

Bengal ! (1234)

**.**

**Aethon class Assaultstars x3**

Bulwark *(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians from Caprica)

Cougar** * **(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians from Caprica)

Lion** * **(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians from Caprica)

Tiger(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians and Academy from Picon)

Blackbird(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians and Academy from Picon)

**.**

**Pyrois class Assaultstars x5**

General Olivia Hamilton** * **(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians from Caprica)

General Justin Mathews** * **(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians from Caprica)

General Matt Bryce *** **(1500+2000Marines) (10000 Civilians from Caprica)

14th Marine division embarked on 5 Pyrois class Assaultstars (1500+7000 Marines)

**.**

**Harrier class Assaultstars **

**(Academy and Civilians are estimated)**

Hawk * (1500+2000Marines) (13000 Civilians from Caprica)

Hound * (1500+2000Marines) (14000 Civilians from Caprica)

Runner * (1500+2000Marines) (13000 Civilians from Caprica)

Justicia (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Lancastria (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Mendi (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Orontes (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Tamar (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Rohna (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Aba (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Asturia 1 (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Asturia 2 (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Aragon (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Cameronia (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Cheshire (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Dunera (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Castle (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Medway (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Dynasty (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Empire Trooper (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Empire Star (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Georgic (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Monarch (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Princess (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Chieftain (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Laurentic (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Clyde (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Monterosa (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Saga (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Tairea (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Taliwa (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Windrush (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

Zaria (1500+10000 Academy and Civilians)

**.**

**Pandarus Light Strikestars x5 escorts for the 14th Marine division**

Rowan ! (342)

Oak ! (378)

Saber !

Swift !

Cobalt ! (324)

Collingwood ! (280)

Dauphin ! (357)

Dawson ! (304)

Drumheller ! (467)

Dundas ! (429)

Dunvegan ! (377)

Edmundston ! (344)

Bellwort ! (414)

Bergamot ! (389)

Bluebell ! (380)

Borage ! (320)

Bryony ! (492)

Burdock ! (347)

.

**Warstar class **

**Subclass Thor**

Pan *

Tyche *

Rhode *

Peitho *

Eunomia *

Hermaphroditus *

Eros *

Freesia !

Pickaxe !

Delphi !

Bullet !

War Rose !

Creeping Ivy !

.

**Gunstar Class **

Subclass Guardian

Protector *

Guardian *

Calypso *

.

**Subclass Alberio x5**

Glowworm *

Griffin *

Hunter *

Hero *

Havock *

Hasty *

Hancock *

Sunflower !

Sweetbriar !

Tamarisk !

Glaive !

War Shield !

Hammer !

.

**Subclass Sterope x5**

Fame *

Fearless *

Firedrake *

Fortune *

Empress *

Drake *

Empire *

Bulolo !

Hector !

Mylar !

Gryfe !

Bashful !

Grime !

.

**Subclass Defender x8**

Daring *

Dauntless *

Diamond *

Dragon *

Defender *

Duncan *

.

**Titan II class Gunstars x10 escorts for the 14th Marine division**

Pan !

Pandora !

Admiral Gallant ! (766)

Falk ! (837)

Renown ! (682)

Archer !

Worden !

Clyde !.

**.**

**Circe Patrolstar x13 (6 are escorts for the 14th Marine division)**

Hopkins (412)

Hull (323)

**.**

**Leviathan Mobile Ship yard Class **

Leviathan *

Goliath *

Mammoth*

Gigantic *

Behemoth *

Monsoon

Torrent

Bishop

.

**Hephasetus Constructionstar Class x4**

Hephasetus *

Resource *

Refit *

Repair *

Draftsman *

Renovate *

McKenzie

Overhaul

Mend

Renovation

Admiral Melody Darling

.

**Berzerk class support ships x12**

**.**

**Firestar Frigates Type I and II x20**

Type I

Intrepid *

Impulsive !

Desert *

Puck *

General Alfred Morris *

Type II

Cossack *

Barents *

Harpoon *

Battle *

Admiral Tories *

.

**Nightingale Class Medstar Meditrina **

Hope *

Sanctuary

Rescue

Mercy

Comfort

Bountiful

.

**Sanctuary class medical ship**

Giver of Life

.

**Freighters **

Alliance !

Wishing Well (850) Morning Star (189) Longneck (1189) Thunder (1900) Comet I (2000) Comet II (2000) Comet V (2000) Comet VIII (2000)

Bottler (690) Mayburn (720) Riesman (1300) Shooting Star (900) Mystic Rose (400) Gypsy Traveler (700) Long Haul (1202) Reni (1004)

Rain (899) Virgon Traveler (638) Copyist (799) Caprica One (1222) Caprica Two (1500) Lorain Haste (1383) Ambrosia I (2000)

Ambrosia V (2000) Wolf (1220) Cora's Love (1540) Zoe (2000) Pyramid (1822) Keystone (732) Lady Killer (373) Nebula (2791)

Total Survivors at on the above ships 40665 and are heavily over populated

.

**Liners x20 x4 x9 x8 x15 x8! x20**

Homestead

Picon Morning

Picon Sunset

**.**

**Tylium Tankers x2**

Orion (1345) Nova I (2172) Nova II (1291) Nova V (1324) Flagon (1972)

Total Survivors at on the above ships 5702 and are heavily over populated

.

**Cargo ships x8 x5 x6! x8**

.

**Octopus Tugs x20**

**.**

**Titanica class Colony ships**

Titanica

Olympia

Olympic

.

**Water Tankers x1**

Aquarium (292) Lake (283) River (221) Ocean's Deep (236)

Total Survivors at on the above ships 1032

**.**

**Agro ships **

Harvest (328) Grain haul (426) Zeus (237)

Total Survivors at on the above ships 991 Crew and Passengers

**.**

**Barges **

Conveyer I (45) Conveyer VIII (53)

Total Survivors at on the above ships 98

**.**

**Refinery Ships x1**

**.**

**Scrap hauler x2 **

Scraper (53)

Total Survivors at on the above ships 53

**.**

**Foundry Ships x3**

**.**

**Electronic Ships **

Wishbone (332)

Morgan (387)

Total Survivors at on the above ships 719

**.**

**Small Craft Carrier x2**

**.**

**Super Agro ships x3***

.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	12. Chapter 10

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Ten**

.

.

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

.

.

**.**

**.**

**Five hours into the attack;**

**Hyperion Nebula;**

**Emergency Exit to the Veil #2;**

**Battlestar _Titan_;**

Moiré gripped the rail as the ship came out of FTL. Her eyes went to the Dradis screen and waited for the image to settle.

"Status report, Secure from combat," Moiré ordered.

Commander Wilson picked up the handset and started talking, "This is Commander Wilson. All stations report in to the DC office. All gun batteries check your weapons and ammo loads. Stand down from battle stations to condition yellow. One man out from each station is allowed out at a time to use the bathroom and gather food for their station. Flight bays report status of all Vipers, Raptors and remaining small craft. Engineering, get me a status report on the mains and the FTL jump drives. Medical, get me a crew status report. That is all."

"Admiral, all civilian craft counted for but we have a missing ship. The Warstar _Tyche_ did not make the jump."

"What do you mean she didn't make the jump? She should have been right behind us…"

"Admiral, we were under heavy attack and that last missile swarm just before we jumped consisted of one to two in nuclear warheads. I'm betting the _Tyche_ was hit by a nuclear warhead just after we jumped. If so, it's possible she was disabled or…"

"Or destroyed. Let's wait for the stealth Raptor to get here," Moiré replied and then looked over at the com station, "Notify the Assaultstars and the civilian ships to head down the tunnel to safety."

"Yes, Ma'am," the com officer replied and then started speaking into her headmic, "This is the _Titan _to all Assaultstars and the civilian ships. Head down the tunnel to bubble two. Civilian ships, you'll be met inside by friendly forces and directed to parking zones. Speed inside the bubble is one quarter and maintain a distance of three thousand yards between all craft. At no time are any communications to be sent from the ships except through the cockpit com stations so please disabled all com stations on your ships. Thank you and welcome to the Veil."

"Assaultstars entering the Veil at this time," Commander Wilson reported.

"Damage control teams report minimum damage to the ship and repairs are underway to seal up the compartments open to space."

"Ammo loads are at seventy percent."

"The CAG reports nine Vipers, two Raptors and a Heavy lifter being downgraded for repairs."

"Medical reports the survivors from Delphi are being looked over. Doctor Gains reports he has six critical cases."

"New Dradis contact."

"Who is it?" Moiré asked.

"Colonial IFF… Admiral it's the stealth Raptor from Caprica."

"Contact them and ask if they know what happened to…"

"Ma'am, Speeder reports the complete destruction of the Warstar _Tyche._ She says she was hit by multiple nuclear warheads just as the _Titan_ jumped out. No survivors. Any reply to her?"

"No, just tell her to land on the _Titan_ and fill out her reports. I want it ASAP," Moiré ordered as she rubbed her eyes thinking of the several thousand souls lost, 'I waited too long to jump the fleet and now

"Admiral, the civilian ships are now entering the tunnel. _Corus _is lining up behind them," Commander Wilson reported.

"Very well. Bring us behind the _Corus_. We'll enter after her followed by the Gunstars and Firestars. Send a message into the Veil to have medical ships standing by for the wounded. Commander Wilson, have the civilians ready to be transferred to the _Titanica, Olympia_ and _Olympic_. The wounded can go to their medical bays as well until they are healthy enough to be discharged. The medical personal from Delphi can report aboard the _Menoetius _to staff their medical facilities," Moiré ordered and turned to the marines by the door.

"Colonel Mallard, I want you to get with production and start melting some of the gold down into cubits. Use about half the bullion, the rest will be for the government to use. The other special metals can be held in the armory on deck seven. Make sure the armory is secure with guards inside and out…"

"We're entering the Veil tunnel."

"…standard weapon load out on all marines on guard. Make sure the corridor before the armory is set up to electrify any unauthorized personal if they break pass the guard post."

"Yes, Ma'am, I'll get right on it," Mallard replied.

"Commander Wayne. What were our Viper losses?" Moiré asked the fleet CAG commander.

"Combined fleet wide we lost ninety-seven Mark V Vipers, and twenty Mark III's. We recovered thirty-one pilots. Raptor losses are forty-three with ten crews recovered. Six Heavy lifters were lost as well and no survivors. Total losses are one hundred and fifty six pilots, ECO and flight crews," Commander Janet Wayne reported.

"Have all ships draw replacement craft and pilots from Veil station," Moiré ordered and then looked at Commander Wilson, "Rick, dispatch one of the stealth ships to Ragnor station and have them check for the Galactica. If they are there, have the pilot contact the ship and tell Adama to jump his ship to the tunnel and join us. Commander Wayne, once all our Raptors have been checked and the pilots rested. I want them to start jumping around the systems looking for civilian ships. They are to contact them and have them jump to the Veil and join us. Also, have them keep an eye out for Colonial fleet units and get them here."

"Yes, Ma'am," both officers replied.

"Exiting the tunnel… By the Lords!"

Moiré's eyes snapped to the monitor and she gasped out in surprise when she saw the number of ships. Looking down at the Dradis station, her mouth opened in surprise as the count on the side of the screen rolled up into the hundreds for the contacts. Smaller tugs were pushing the ships into a stable orbit around the Refugee, Veil two and Reliant station while an octopus was dragging the remains of a Battlestar towards one of the smelter docks. Raptors, Vipers, shuttles and Heavy lifters were darting around the ships and docking with other ships. Patrol ships were standing guard over nineteen ships kept over in one section while another had thirteen white ships with the medical core insignia on their sides. Hundreds of Raptors were flying back and forth from the _Menoetius_ while several Assaultstars were docked to the _Titan_ class Battlestars _Asteria _and _Leto._

"Commander Wilson, send a message to the _Corus_ to take up station at the tunnel exit. No ships are to leave without my approval. He has permission to use all available assets to prevent it. Then have the _Titan_ move into bubble one and next to station Veil. I'll be going over to the station for awhile. Make sure all ammo and fuel loads for all the ships of the squadron are topped off. Check on the repairs to the _Cronus,_" Moiré ordered as she stood up.

"Right away Admiral. Did you wish to take a Raptor to Veil station?" Rick asked.

"Yes, have one prepared. The faster I get there, the faster I get this nightmare organized," Moiré replied as she walked out the door.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Six hours into the attack;**

**Veil Depot;**

**Station Veil;**

Moiré walked into her office and sat down. As she was reaching for the intercom her sectary walked in and set a large cup of coffee down in front of her.

"Welcome back Admiral," the young ensign said as she set a stack of folders down next to the coffee cup.

"Thank you Amanda. I need this," she replied as she picked up the cup and took a long sip. "Ahhh that's good. So what or who is first?"

"You have a visitor in the outer office. It's Helen Nagala."

Moiré spurted coffee over her desk in shock, "Send her in right away and get her a cup of coffee."

"Yes, Ma'am," Amanda replied as she rushed to the bathroom and bought back a towel to dab at the coffee.

Taking the towel, "I'll get that. You get Helen in here."

Amanda left the office and quickly returned with her dead boss's daughter. Moiré noticed the briefcase attached to her left hand as she sat walked across the room. Moiré got up and walked around her desk and took the young woman in her arms.

"Helen, it's good to see you. I feared you dead in the attack. What about your kids?" she asked as she let the woman go.

"It's good to see you as well Moiré. Peter had me get the kids and get to the Assaultstar at the academy to escape. I have something for you," she replied as she set the case on the desk and unhooked it from her wrist.

"What is that?" Moiré asked.

"This case holds disks for you," Helen replied as she opened the case and showed her friend the case, "The disk hold schematics of all the ships in the fleet. New weapons, ships on the drawing board, planned ship designs, even partial designs. It also has the locations of all the fleet supply depots, weapon storage facilities, small craft storage and fuel depots."

"That will come in handy. I also need a professional secretary. Want the job? If you can handle it that is," Moiré asked as she flipped through the hundreds of disks.

Helen snorted, "If I can handle my father and Uncle Peter. You'll be a piece of cake," she replied.

"Good, Amanda, come in here," Moiré shouted out.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Six hours into the attack;**

**Zodia Belt;**

**Liner _Pandora;_**

Captain Vicky Lawrence watched the Dradis screen with dread as the twenty Raiders tore into the damaged Patrolstar _Vengeance._ Around her ship, the other refuge ships in the small convoy tried to escape with the _Pandora_ into the thick asteroid belt. There were four passenger liners, three cargo ships, a Tylium tanker, a flat top electronics ship and an Agro ship left out of the twenty-seven FTL capacity civilian ships that had originally banded together for safety. They had left behind twenty-nine ships that had no FTL, but were able to transfer the passengers and crews to the fleet along with their supplies and fuel.

When the Patrolstar _Morning Glory_ had been crippled in a surprise attack, they had transferred the surviving one hundred and ninety of the crew to the _Pandora_ to man her weapons along with her six Raptors, two shuttles and her two cutters. They had left the ship stripped of what ammo and supplies that they could safely carry and jumped away.

"Captain Myers is ordering us to jump away," Com officer Mildred Hawks reported as she listened to message coming in from the _Vengeance._

Vicky sighed and looked at her brother sitting at the secondary helm station, "Rick, are you sure it's there and that it's large enough for all of our ships?"

"Yes, I was one of the crews who moved the asteroid depot and yes, the hanger is large enough for double our ships."

"Ok then. Com, notify the rest of the ships that were jumping in three minutes. Send the coordinates of the jump to them and have them close up on us," Vicky ordered.

"Four Raiders closing from astern, their launching missiles!"

Vicky watched as the four Raiders each fired a pair of missiles at the small group of refugee ships. "Drop counter measures. Order all ships hard port," she ordered and the old military liner dumped a dozen decoys behind her as the ships turned to port and slipped deeper into the asteroid field.

"Missiles diverting… Oh hell. One is locked onto the _Picon Sunset Delight_… It's a hit."

Vicky watched the Dradis screen waiting for the big liner to vanish into oblivion but it didn't, it stayed right behind the _Pandora._

"Can we jump?" Vicky asked as another batch of missiles were launched at the refugee ships.

"_Vengeance_ is gone," Lieutenant Horus Housman stated from his station.

"All ships report that the coordinates are locked in and FTL's are powered up," Mildred reported.

"Mildred, notify all ships to jump," Vicky ordered.

"Virgon Runner just blew up."

"Damn it. Launch more counter measures and tell the rest of the ships to jump," Vicky ordered as she glanced at the monitor to her right showing an expanding fireball where a cargo ship once was.

"Counter measures launched."

"Ships are jumping now… We're jumping," Mildred reported.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Eight hours into the attack;**

**Veil Depot;**

**Station Veil;**

Moiré rubbed her eyes as she looked at the reports from the Raptors. Almost complete destruction of all active duty Battlestars, Gunstars and lighter units. The good news was ninety percent of the repair fleet had escaped destruction due to Admiral's Nagala's orders for them to jump to the Veil. The colonies themselves were wrecked, with most of the population dead from nuclear strikes and now the Cylons were landing Centurions on every planet to hunt down the survivors. The good news was while they were concentration on the planets the Raptors had made contact with sixty percent of the mining facilities and were able to evacuate the personal to the Veil along with their ships. Additional Raptors were jumping all over the system looking for civilian craft and giving them the coordinates for the Veil and safety.

The stream of refugee craft had dropped to a trickle at this time. She had given ordered to expand both bubbles and start deploying satellites for a third bubble because of all the civilian ships.

"Admiral, Commander Torrez is here with an update," Helen Nagala said from the door way.

"Send him in Helen and please bring us some coffee. Also bring your pad and a pen, we'll need you to take notes, " Moiré stated as she popped her neck.

Commander Mathew Torrez walked in carrying a thick folder in his left hand, "Admiral, I have an update for you."

"Have a seat Mathew; I have Helen getting you some coffee…."

Helen walked in carrying three large coffee cups on a tray she set the tray down and passed the cups to each person and then picked up her pad and a pen off the tray. Sitting down she said, "When you're ready Admiral."

"Thanks Helen. Go ahead with your report Mathew. Start with military assets first."

Taking a sip of his coffee, he replied as he opened the folder and flipped the pages, "Yes, Ma'am. First of all as you know we have the ten _Titans._ The _Cronus_ is damaged but under repair but should be up and running by the end of next week. The _Titan_ and _Corus_ took a few hits as well and repairs should be finished in a week.

"The _Virgon_ and _Caprica_ are at full combat readiness with both sitting next to emergency exit number one. Five _Mercury_ class Battlestars were able to escape to us. They are all having suffered damage, but the _Pontus_ and _Thalassa_ have the worst. Their landing bays are a wreck. Now the _Thor_ and _Hammer _have heavy damage to their primary hulls while the _Zeus_ took a nuclear hit to her engine section and damaged her engine room. She was able to do an emergency jump to the Veil where she was towed in.

"Now the _Andraste_ is a wreck. She has taken multiple nuclear hits, her outer hull has been compressed from several large explosions, most of her guns are out of commission and she suffered over thirty-five hundred dead and two thousand wounded. To repair her, it will take one of the dry-docks at least a year to restore her. I suggest we strip her and then recycle her down for parts."

"Do so. We can use her surviving crew on the _Juno_ and _Jupiter,_" Moiré ordered as she wrote a note to herself as Helen wrote down her orders.

"Now a surprise that jumped in to the Veil was three _Jupiter_ class Battlestars. They were at one of the supply depots when the attack started and Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd ordered them to jump to the Veil just before his flagship _Acalypha_ was destroyed. The _Python, Mythos_ and _Mylar_ all took light damaged, but lost their entire air wings in the attack. _Mythos_ took the worst damage when a nuke hit her midsection and opened the top two decks to space. Repairs will take about a month for the _Python_ and _Mylar_ and three months for the _Mythos._

"The next damaged Battlestars are five _Valkyries._ You rescued the _Randgríð_ at Caprica and the _Völuspá, Grímnismál, Darraðarljóð_ and the _Nafnaþulur_ escaped from Virgon when Admiral Nagala ordered them to jump away. All five ships have suffered heavy damage and estimated time of repair is four to five months.

"The remaining Battlestars are of the _Armageddon_ class. As you know you brought two of them here. But a third showed up from Virgon with damage to her main weapons. The _Tiger_ lost all her main weapons when thirty non-nuclear missiles hit her bow. With the loss of her heavy KEWs admiral Nagala ordered her to jump away. Estimated time of repair on the _Tiger _is two months. Now of the remaining two, the _Bengal _is the best of the two and it would still take a year to rebuild her. She lost everything forward of the landing bays. The _Whisper_ is a complete loss. She lost her bow and stern. We could rebuild her, but it would be better to strip her for parts."

"Admiral, I saw what was left of the _Whisper._ Wouldn't it be better to remove the two landing bays and attach them to one of the stations? That way they have additional Viper launchers," Helen asked as she continued writing.

"That could work. Mathew, get with the engineers and see what they think. I think they should be attached to Refinery One as she has limited Viper facilities. The bays would also be good to launch loaded shuttles. As to the _Bengal,_ park her in storage and we'll deal with her later. Have several of the _Leviathans_ start repair work on the _Mercury's_. We need their firepower to help defend the Veil incase the Cylons get in here. Then we'll start repairs on the rest."

"What's next on the list?" Moiré asked as she signed off on the sheets of paper that Helen handed her.

"Warstars are next and they are all _Thor_ class. As you know we lost the _Tyche_ at Caprica with her entire crew. _Pan_ took two missile hits while she was with you but minor damage. _Rhode, Peitho_ and _Eunomia_ were held here as a rearguard while _Hermaphroditus_ and _Eros _went to several of the reserve depots and jumped several ships back here. Commander Miles of the _Eros_ was able to jump four Warstars from Libran storage depot back to the Veil with the Depots personal. The _Tanais, Zancle, Vasiliki, _and the _Tyros _each have at least twenty-seven hundred people onboard. That is a mixed crew of civilian, marines and fleet personal. They were also able to load the hanger down with dozens of shipping containers of stripped parts for other ships at the depot along with all the Raptors, Vipers and shuttles. The twelve heavy lifters at the Depot jumped away with four of the stored first generation Pandarus Light Strikestars after they had been loaded with all the supplies from the station. Now in deep storage we have six more _Thor_ class Warstars that we received from Reliant Depot when the station was shut down. They are the _Freesia, Pickaxe, Delphi, Bullet_, _War Rose_, and the _Creeping Ivy_."

"Mathew, see about getting crews for them. We're going to need them ASAP as to the civilian personal on the _Tanais, Zancle, Vasiliki, _and the _Tyros_ removed to one of the stations while try and see if we have enough marines and colonial personal to man the ships. As to the _Freesia, Pickaxe, Delphi, Bullet_, _War Rose_, and the _Creeping Ivy_ see if we can move some personal around from the stations to fill their crew roasters. We'll figure out command crews when we see who we have," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Mathew replied as he wrote down a few notes on the page in front of him.

"What's next?" Moiré asked as she wrote a few notes.

Mathew changed the page and replied, _"Pandarus _Light Strikestars, The first four are the first generation or pre production test beds. They are the _Kios, Lato, __Olbia_, and the _Pavlopetri_. They are in excellent condition with around eight hundred civilian and colonial personal onboard. The only problem with them is they have no fuel or ammo for their weapons. The remaining are production Strikestars. The _Rowan_ and _Oak_ survived the attack on the _Andraste_ and jumped away when ordered to. They both have heavy damage and lost about a third of their crew. Their sister ships _Saber _and _Swift_ were destroyed with the _Andraste_ attack. The remaining twenty-seven Pandarus except for the last five have damage ranging from light to moderate with combat losses. The undamaged ships, _Cumae, Dyme, Gournia, Histria_, and the _Kimmerikon _were part of the 14th marine expedition and were ordered to the Veil by Admiral Corman. The remaining twenty-two were attacked by Cylon Raiders and escaped with the convoy of ships they were escorting. The _Dundas, Borage, Cherry, Bhrytos_ and the _Maple_ have light damage while the _Cobalt, Collingwood, Drumheller, Bluebell _and _Willow_ have minor damage. The _Ash, Alalia, Plum, Bergamot, Bryony_ and the _Dawson _have moderate damage. The remaining ships, _Dauphin, Dunvegan, Edmundston, Bellwort, Burdock, Willow_, and the _Alinda_ have heavy damage. Estimated time of repairs is from one week to five weeks, depending on the damage to each ship."

"That's a good deal of escorts we'll need once we leave the Veil. Have two of the _Hephasetus_ used to repair them. They should be able to repair four of them at one time. What's next?" Moiré asked.

"We got lucky when some _Circe_ class Patrolstars showed up. Two are lightly damaged, the _Hopkins_ and _Hull _Admiral Corman ordered them here from Picon_._ We received six with the 14th marine expedition. They are the _Dagger, Circe, Mace, Shark, Broadsword, _and _Battleaxe_. We also have nineteen with light to moderate damage. They moderate damaged ones are the _Swan, Drake, Solebay, Seahorse, Bideford, Penzance, Dunwich, Orford,_ and the _Lizard_. The remaining ten have light damage, _Greyhound, Blandford, Shoreham, Scarborough, Garland, Seaford, Lowestoffe, Rose, Deal Castle, _and the _Fox_," Mathew reported as he read off the list of ships.

Moiré looked at her second in command and asked, "How did we get lucky like that?"

"They were all on deep patrol along the asteroid belts or on escort duty. When Admiral Corman issued operation Linebacker over the airwaves, they checked their books and jumped here. Unfortunately, another fifteen didn't make it. Several sacrificed their lives to allow their companion ships to get the ships they were escorting away," Mathew replied with regret in his voice.

"We'll mourn them later. Set up their repairs after the Pandarus. What's next?" she asked as she flipped the page for a new page to write on.

"I agree Admiral, right now is not the time to mourn. Next is _Titan II_ Gunstars. Five are undamaged. They are the _Boreas, Hussar, Shannon, Trent,_ and the _Actaeon._ They were part of the 14th marine expedition escorts. The remaining twelve have damage that ranges from light to heavy, _Pandora, Admiral Gallant, Falk, Renown, Clyde, __Giant, Missile, Active, Levant, Cerberus, Aquilon,_ and the _Silver_ _Griffin._

"In addition we have three of the _Guardian_ subclass Gunstars that were stationed here. They are the _Protector, Guardian_, and the _Calypso._ In the _Alberio_ class we have the undamaged, _Glowworm, Griffin, Hunter, Hero, Havock, Hasty,_ and the _Hancock_ and as you know they were originally assigned here_._ We have six in storage; they are the _Sunflower, Sweetbriar, Tamarisk, Glaive, War Shield,_ and the _Hammer._ The following arrived here with damages that ranges from light to extreme, _Thisbe, Pomona, Circe, Rose, Hussar, Alligator, Dido_, and the _Lapwing._

"The next set of Gunstars…"

"We have more?" Moiré asked in shock.

"Yes, we have the _Sterope_ and _Defender_ classes. In the _Sterope_ class we have the original seven that were stationed here. They are the _Fame, Fearless, Firedrake, Fortune, Empress, Drake_ and the _Empire._ In storage we have six more; they are the _Bulolo, Hector, Mylar, Gryfe, Bashful, _and the _Grime._ During the attack nine more arrived with various damages. They are all guard units and the names _are __Rolla, Cherokee, Leveret, Cadmus, Achates, Parthian, Briseis, Jasper, _and the _Ephira,_

"In the _Defender_ class we have the orginal six that were stationed here and used as escorts for the Virgon and Caprica when they were at Point Echo. They are the _Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon, Defender,_ and the _Duncan._ Twelve more showed up with the refuge fleets from Virgon, Picon and Caprica. They are all reserve units. The ships are _Onyx, Badger, Opossum, Wild Boar, Rinaldo, Chanticleer, Goldfinch, Woodlark, Shearwater, Calliope, _and the _Hope,"_ Mathew reported as he changed the page as he added, "And some of them need weapon and software updates since they were guard units."

"I forgot we had some of the _Sterope_ and _Defender_ classes. As to upgrades, that will be a priority. We can use the stations to update the software and minor weapons updates. I do know we need to improve their light defense weapons because the original _Guardian__, Sterope_ and _Defender's_ were why they were retired from active duty. I won't have unnecessary losses if we can help it. They are also light on air power, but nothing we can do for that because they don't have the hangar space for a squadron of Vipers, What's next?" Moiré stated as she wrote some information on her tablet.

"Next we have frigates. All are of the _Firestar_ class and of both types Ones and Twos. We originally had five type one's and they were the _Intrepid, Impulsive, Desert, Puck, _and the _General Alfred Morris_.The _Impulsive_ was lost over Caprica and the Intrepid took light damage from three ship killer missiles that punched through her port landing bay. The type twos we had are the_ Cossack, Barents, Harpoon, Battle, _and _Admiral Tories_. All are undamaged. During the attack, Admiral Nagala ordered the twenty-four that showed up at Virgon to jump to the Veil. The first group are Type one's and are the thirty-first escort squadron. They are the _Britomart, Prince Arthur, Cordelia, Redpole, Helicon, Lyra, Beaver, Drake, Rosario, Renard, Tyrian,_ and the _Bermuda._ The second twelve are from the Fiftieth escort squadron are a mixed bag of type ones and twos. They are the _Rhodian, Sarpedon, Alacrity, Deptford, Bustard, Chatham, Brisk, Chatham, Delight, Cygnet, Ariel, Deptford, Eclipse, Falcon, Beagle,_ and the _Barracouta,_" Mathew said as he turned the page.

"By the Lords of Kobol, we have a fleet," Moiré said in surprise.

"Yes, we do, but we also have a thousands of civilians we have to protect and we're going to need every one of them," Mathew replied as his stomach grumbled.

"You're right. Why don't we break for now and get some dinner and then continue this afterwards," Moiré suggested.

"Why don't we finish the last of the fleet units and then we'll do the support units after dinner?" Mathew suggested.

"What do we have left?" Moiré asked as she flipped the page on her pad.

"Assaultstars and we have quite a few of them thanks to Admiral Nagala and Corman's plans," Mathew replied as he turned the page in his folder.

"I remember Admiral Nagala and Corman mentioning a plan for them to be stationed at the military Academies of the colonies. So what did we get?"

"Well the first group is of the _Aethon_ class. Three were assigned to us and you used them to evacuate thousands of civilians from Caprica. The _Bulwark, Cougar_ and the _Lion_ have ten thousand civilians on each and are straining the environmental systems of the ship. I have them unloading the civilians onto one of the _Titanica_ class Colony ships we have here. Each of the _Titanica's_ can hold sixty thousand colonists so it should give them a break. This will free them up for the marines again. We also received two of them from Picon Academy during the evacuation. The _Tiger_ and _Blackbird_ evacuated seven thousand Colonial and marine personal from the academy and thirteen thousand civilians from the base. We also received three more carrying the 5th marine division that was leaving Tauron for redeployment to BSG-23 and a mission to clear out part of the Zodia belt. General Peter Hammond had Intel on a major S.F.M. base and they were preparing to attack it. When the attack happened he followed his orders and jumped his fleet here. He also brought several repair ships with him. His ships consist of the _Liberty, Skylark_ and _Fairy_ with seven thousand marines, and fifteen hundred colonial personal onboard. He also has a dozen heavy drop ships on each ship.

"The next eight Assaultstars are of the _Pyrois_ class. Three, the _General Olivia Hamilton, General Justin Mathews_ and the _General Matt Bryce_ and you used them at Caprica where they lifted off thirty thousand civilians which I sent to the _Titanica_ so they would have more room. General Robert Hall has five _Pyrois_ under his command they are the _General Willie Evens, General John Walters, General Beth Ronaldson,_ _General Peter Myers,_ and _General Mathew Hall_, each is carrying seven thousand marines that were on a mission deployment training exercise to one of the Libran moons.

"Now for the nightmare. We have the _Harrier_ class and three of them you took to Caprica and between them they rescued forty thousand people. I sent them to the _Titanica's_ and had them unloaded to the second of the three we have. But the real nightmare is what Admiral Corman and Nagala sent us with the remaining twenty-five. Each has a standard crew of fifteen hundred and ten thousand civilians and academy personal. I can send another eighty thousand to the last two _Titanica's_ but that still leaves seventeen more with around forty-five thousand more civilians. We have twenty-five _Harvestor_ class Military Argo ships that should or I hope will be able to take the remaining forty-five thousand but I won't know until they finish assigning the civilians to each ship. The remaining personal are Academy trainings or instructors and I have assigned them to the _Titan_ training ships _Asteria_ and _Leto_. The remaining _Harriers_ are the _Justicia, Lancastria, Mendi, Orontes, Tamar, Rohna, Aba, Asturia 1, Asturia 2, Aragon, Cameronia, Cheshire, Dunera, Castle, Medway, Dynasty, Empire Trooper, Empire Star, Georgic, Monarch, Princess, Chieftain, Laurentic, Clyde, Monterosa, Saga, Tairea, Taliwa, Windrush,_ and the _Zaria_. We know there were six more, but they didn't make it of Tauron, or that's what we're assuming," Mathew reported as he handed a copy of the paper he was reading to Moiré.

Moiré took the paper and looked at it. Setting it down she asked, "Mathew, how many _Leviathans _do we have?"

Mathew looked through his papers and found the repair ships page. Looking at it, he said, "We have ten _Leviathans,_ fifteen _Hephasetus_ class and five _Ranger _class Mobile Shipyard."

Moiré picked up the briefcase she had left by her desk that morning and set it on the desk. She opened the case and started flipping through the disk and stopped on one of the jewel cases. Pulling it out, she read the information on the cover before speaking, "Ok, then let's have eight of the _Leviathans _start building _Titanica_ class colony ships. The _Hephasetus_ and the _Ranger's_ can start repairs on the military ships unless a civilian ship needs immediately repairs. It says it should only take six months to build one of the colony ships in a _Leviathan_ dock. When finished we can move a half million survivors on to them, freeing up ship space…"

"If we move the _Mercury's_ to the _Rangers_ that would free up the other two _Leviathans_ to build two more colony ships. That would be another hundred and twenty thousand civilians we could transfer," Helen stated as she looked at her notes.

"That's a good idea Helen. Mathew, change the orders on the repairs to the Mercury's unless they need a dock. Now how about lunch before we tackle the support and civilian fleets," Moiré stated as she picked up her handset and pressed some buttons. She waited a minute and then said, "This is Admiral Hays. Please send up three specials with desert along with two carafes of tea to my ready room."

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**1*1*1**

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**Eight hours into the attack;**

**Emergency Exit One of the Veil;**

Outside the veil, the last of the civilian ships entered the tunnel and the entrance closed up as its camouflaged satellites went to minimum power. Two scrap haulers were sweeping up the debris from the damaged ships while out near the Zodia belt, eight of the _Octopus_ tugs latched onto eight mineral rich asteroids and started towing them to the entrance with their Viper escorts flew alongside them.

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**Please leave a comment, it only takes a second.**

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	13. Chapter 11

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Eleven**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**Ten hours into the attack;**

**Veil Depot;**

**Station Veil;**

Moiré set her fork and knife down on the plate as Commander Torrez walked back into the room. "Anything new to report?" she asked as she took a sip of her tea,

"Just six more liners were found and directed to the Veil. We still have four hundred Raptors out jumping around the systems looking for escaping craft. They have found the wreckage of hundreds of civilian and colonial craft. We have the location of fifteen _Mercury's,_ six _Valkyrie,_ and three _Jupiter's_ wrecks that should be recovered along with a dozen Gunstars. Fourteen damaged large civilian ships have been tagged as well. I have the _Hephasetus_ and _Rangers_ being prepped to recover them. Each is going out with four Gunstars as escorts. They will send in a pair of Raptors first then jump to the location, snag the wrecks and jump away. I figure even if there are no survivors, the wrecks will hold critical supplies.

"Also, Raptors have checked the location of all Depots and the only ones not destroyed or taken over are the hidden ones. As soon as the next bubble is finished, I propose we send out the _Octopus_ tugs to jump them back to the Veil so we have the supplies on hand and the Cylons don't find them by accident," Mathew replied as he sat down.

"What about Ragnor or the Guard bases?" Moiré asked.

"Every guard base has been blown apart. I'm not sure if any survivors got away, but each was hit by multiple nuclear weapons, destroying the facilities and supplies. I also had a flight of four Raptors jump to Ragnor. They reported two Baseships at the outer marker and what they thought was a debris field. They didn't get to close and jumped away as soon as Raiders turned towards them. So I sent a pair of the stealth ships to keep an eye on them. If the Cylons leave, one will enter the anchorage and see if the station is still there. If so, I think we can use the tugs to pull her out and jump her to the Veil. I plan on getting together with Commander Dickson of Tug command and see what he says. Otherwise we'll have to empty the depot of its supplies and depending on how much Adama left, we'll need a lot of ships and time," Mathew replied as he opened his folder.

"Sounds good to me. Plan the mission and get it back to me for final approval. So we have no idea where Commander Adama took his fleet or the new president?"

"No, Ma'am, I'm hoping he left a hidden message or a buoy inside the anchorage for us," Mathew said as he turned the papers until he found the one he was looking for.

"Helen, are you ready?" Moiré asked as she looked at her secretary.

"Ready when you are," Helen replied as she picked up her notepad.

"Ok, what is first, civilian or support ships?" Moiré asked.

"Support ships are what I was thinking and I'll start with the repair ships. The first is the _Leviathans_. As you know we have ten of them. We have the _Leviathan, Goliath, Mammoth, Gigantic, Behemoth, Monsoon, Torrent, Bishop, Osiris, _and_ Typhoon._ All are fully staffed and crewed. I have sent the orders as you suggested having them start building _Titanica_ class colony ships. I just wish I knew what happened to the remaining six.

"We have sixteen of the twenty-three Hephasetus class Constructionstar. They are the _Hephasetus, __Resource, __Refit, __Repair, Draftsman, __Renovate, McKenzie, Overhaul, Mend, Renovation, Admiral Melody Darling, Pillars of Picon, General Amy Morrison, Sanctuary,_ and_ Restore_. We have no idea on the missing seven ships but I have Raptors looking for them.

"Our next five ships are Ranger class mobile shipyards that jumped from Scorpio shipyards with eighteen thousand yard personal. They are the _Ranger, Suffix, Admiral Clark Morris, Admiral Helen Wishbone,_ and _Admiral Valarie Hopkins._ Ten more are missing and assumed destroyed," Mathew reported as he handed a copy of the paper to Moiré.

"That's a good chunk of the repair fleet. What about the rest of the support fleet?" Moiré asked.

"Yes it is. The next ships are of the _Berzerk_ class and we have twenty-one of the fifty that were built. All have one to two thousand civilians onboard and I have ordered them to unload them onto Veil One and Two because the environmental systems cannot handle that many. Several of the Berzerks have damage but most escaped unharmed. They consist of the _Berzerk,_ _Enoch,_ _Eyenort, Hourn,_ _Inchard, Ronald,_ _Sheallah, Shiel,_ _Skaig, Sunart, Vanavie, Star Sapphire, Comet, Ibis, Druid, Defiler, Mission, Firedrake, Huon, Lizard, _and the_ Phoenix,"_ Mathew reported.

"That is a good chunk of the supply fleet. With their supplies we can keep the fleet going…"

"Damn, how did I miss this one?" Mathew said in shock as he looked at the next page.

"What is it?" Moiré asked.

"Well it seems when I gave you the Battlestar list, I somehow misplaced this page. It's on the _Admiral Harridan Hope_ and she's a _Nova_ class Battlestar that has taken heavy damage. She lost almost four thousand of her crew in the attack on the _Andraste_ and most of her air wing…"

"We have a _Nova?"_ Moiré asked in shock as she thought of the newer additions to the fleet.

"Yes, Ma'am. I have her listed as being docked to Veil Two while they look for survivors inside her damaged hull. She took heavy damage before they were able to unhook her network systems. She will need a _Leviathan_ for repairs and I'm not sure how damaged she is, but will find out for you."

"That increases our offensive ability by twenty percent once she's repaired. Make sure she's unnetworked so the Cylons cannot use the same trick on her. So what's next?"

"Five of the _Saturn_ class Tylium refinery ships were able to escape. Three of them are carrying enough fuel to refuel a Battlegroup four times each. They also escaped with twenty-five hundred refinery workers and their families from Virgon Refinery. I had them transferred to the refinery to help boost production. The remaining two _Saturn's_ tanks are at fifty percent. They had just refueled several BSG groups before the attack. The ships are _Saturn, Black River, Briar Creek, Cobble Hill,_ and the _Cross Keys_. Ten more are assumed destroyed with the fleet."

"Damn that's a lot of fuel. Make sure they are stationed away from civilian fleet and I want at least five miles from each other. Dispatch two hundred marines to each ship as additional security…"

"They have one hundred marines right now, but I agree eight more squads is a good idea. Now the next ship class are Agro ships. We have six of the _Harvestor_ class that escaped Aerilon space station with nine thousand station personal and all the supplies and tons of seed stock. The captains are already planting crops and the cattle are being checked over to see if they are reproducing or producing milk since the attack. One of the_ Harvestor_ live stock domes is nothing but chickens and turkeys. They were being prepped for a mission out to one of the new colony planets to supply them with fowl. The fish domes are fully stocked and being harvested except for breeding females. The ships are the _Golden Hill, Government Camp, Grand Mesa, Joshua Tree Kathio,_ and the _Kern Hills._ I have a report that the _Kings Canyon_ was destroyed as she jumped away from Aerilon but it's unconfirmed."

"That should solve some food problems. Make sure any milk is allocated to the children first. Make sure every ship knows that we have to tighten the belts until we get all the Agro ships up to full production," Moiré ordered and out of the corner of her left eye she saw Helen writing away on her pad.

"The next ships are _Mule_ class freighters. As you know the fleet built three types with a fourth planned. The first were the _Pole_ class and all have been retired as well as most of the _Thad_ class. The _Empire_ class is the third class along with the newer _Valiant_ class which only three were built. There are eighteen of them and between them they have eighteen thousand personal onboard, I am checking to see how many are Colonial or Marine personal. The ships are fully loaded with supplies for the fleet.

"They jumped from Picon, Virgon, Caprica and Scorpio shipyards. The ships are of the _Empire_ class _Mule_ ships and their names are _Empire Bard, Empire Beaconsfield, Empire Boswell, Empire Buttress, Empire Candida, Empire Carey, Empire Caxton, Empire Crusoe, Empire Dirk, Empire Dunstan, Empire Elgar, Empire Gareth, Empire Gulliver, Empire Harcourt, Empire Harmony, Empire Jessica, Empire Lorenzo,_ and the _Empire Melody."_

"Where does the bureau of ship building get these names," Moiré stated as she signed off on the paper.

"I don't know. I think they have a computer spit the names out," Mathew replied with a grin.

"So what ships do we have?"

"Medical ships. We have two classes. The _Salvation _class and the _Nightingale _glass and of them, we have four _Salvation _and nine _Nightingale's _which is Gods send because of all the wounded we have. The _Nightingales_ can handle fifteen hundred wounded and the _Salvations_ have five thousand beds. With the _Menoetius_ eight thousand beds and the stations, we have enough medical facilities for the thousands of wounded we have received during the attack. The _Nightingales_ are _Hope, Sanctuary, Rescue, Mercy, Comfort, Bountiful, Samaritan, Refuge, _and the _Tranquility._ The _Salvation_ classes are _Giver of Life, Haven, Benevolence_ and the _Consolation,"_ Mathew replied.

"Helen, make a note to build a few more Salvation class medical ships. We'll need them. Mathew, I see that's it for support ships. So I gather the civilian ships are next," Moiré said as she signed off on the medical ship paper.

"Admiral, how many did you want built?" Helen asked.

"How about six more, that will give us ten for the fleet, along with the _Nightingales_ and the _Menoetius_ should be enough to support the fleet," Moiré replied as she looked at Mathew to continue.

"The next group jumped away from one of the ship depots fully loaded down with supplies and depot personal. They are _Theda_ class manufacturing ships that had been just decommissioned by the Adar administration as to costly. They jumped away with the seven thousand member station crew after they emptied it of supplies and fuel. They even brought the stations one hundred and twenty Vipers by using their magnetic locks to fasten them to the hull. I have had them transferred to the Battlestars _Python, Mythos_ and _Mylar_ which lost theirs in the attack. We have seven of the fourteen that were built. They are _Theda, Mystic, Rosebud, Scylla, Scrimmage, Corvine, _and the_ Justin."_

"That's a bit of good news. Glad they kept their heads and didn't leave them behind like some would have," Moiré replied.

"Admiral, that's it for the military assets, which leaves us with the civilian ships as next. I'll be giving you an estimate on civilians onboard those ships. I am lumping the ship classes together as it's easier. The first class is freighters and passenger/freighters. We have four hundred and twenty-one of them in the Veil. Of them, seventy are very old, and twenty-three more were due to be decommissioned. We have twenty-one ships that are heavily damaged. I have the marines going through them removing the dead for burial in the nebula and some of the repair ship crews are going through them to check how long to bring them back on line to be used as habitats until the colony ships are built or checking their cargo manifests for supplies. Remember this is estimate and subject to change due to death and an accurate count. There are six hundred and twenty-eight thousand and six hundred and sixty-five survivors. Not counting ship crews…"

"By the Lords of Kobol. How did so many survive?" Helen gasped out.

"Well Admiral Corman and your dad had advisors at each space port that gave them the coordinates to jump to the Veil and we had a few minutes warning from the _Andraste_ to get them loaded up and away. Then your father held them off long enough that Virgon and the other planets were able to empty their spaceports," Mathew replied as he handed a paper with the list of the freighters names and survivors on each.

"Amazing," Moiré stated as she took the paper from Mathew.

"We have five hundred and seventeen liners carrying one million two hundred and thirty-two thousand and one survivors. Not counting crews. Admiral these ships are heavily overloaded and I have my office shuffling them around trying to make them more comfortable. I'm trying to get them down to around two thousand on each ship but it looks like I'll have to adjust it to around twenty-three hundred each. We also recovered forty-nine heavily damaged liners. "We have two hundred and forty-nine cargo ships carrying cargo and three hundred and seventy-three thousand five hundred survivors. That's an average of about fifteen hundred civilians on each ship. Not counting crews. Also you need to remember some of the passengers on these ships could be Colonial or Marine officers. We also have sixty-three crippled cargo ships. As to the cripples, I have six _Firestars _standing guard over all the cripples to prevent looting."

"Mathew, assign six more _Firestars_ to assist, we cannot allow them to be looted," Moiré ordered.

"As you command Admiral, I'll get the orders sent out when we're finished here," Mathew replied as he turned the page and said, "Next is _Octopus_ tugs. We have twenty-four of them with six more planned to be built. While out with you and the fleet, they picked up thirty thousand survivors off the damaged ships and I had them moved to several Agro ships that had room for them. I currently have eight of them out in the belt grabbing more asteroids for resources we need. The rest are preparing to jump to the first four hidden Supply Depots with four Gunstars each to bring the Depots back to the Veil. They won't jump until the Raptors get back to let them know it's safe to jump. The recovery of each depot should take less than an hour to hook up four tugs to each asteroid and bring it back. Admiral Nagala reported there were twenty-four Depots and I'm hoping… no I'm praying that we can get them all because we'll need those supplies," Mathew said as he handed Moiré one of the copies of the papers he had been reading for her signature.

Taking the paper, Moiré read the operation order and replied, "It looks like a good plan. Tell the captains of all the ships I want their FTLs spooled up the whole time. I'd rather lose the depot then their ships," as she signed the paper and handed it to Helen.

"The next item is bombs… I mean tankers. We have thirty-nine Tylium tankers, with just over fifty thousand people. That's roughly fifteen hundred per ship. Eighteen of the tankers are full and seventeen are carrying evacuated refinery personal from Virgon Refineries which were evacuated before it was destroyed."

"The same rule for the civilian tankers as the military ones. I want them separated in case of accidents," Moiré ordered as Mathew changed papers.

"Already implemented since they are giant bombs waiting to go off. I have them tucked in the back of bubble two. The next ships are the three _Titanica_ class colony ships. I have all three taking on a full load of civilians and recruiting crews for them from the liners. The good news is they were fully stocked with supplies and fuel," Mathew replied as he handed a copy of the paper he was reading to Moiré to sign."

"Good, what's next?" as she signed the paper and passed it to Helen.

"Next is Agro ships and converted ones. We have fifty-six that are in full operations, six crippled. We also have sixteen livestock ones that were getting ready to carry live cargo to all the colonies for their monthly butchering. There is also three more that have been turned into fisheries that supply the fleet with fresh fish. Repair says it will take about three weeks to bring the damaged ones back online and another six months until the damaged domes produce their first cargo of food. There are roughly sixty-four thousand survivors on board the Agro ships which include the ones removed from the tugs."

"Well that should keep us in food. What about water?" Helen asked.

"We have some good news on that. Seventeen water tankers escaped the destruction from Virgon. They were meant for the fleet to resupply the escorts when they ran low. All seventeen are fully loaded thanks to Virgon station and they are carrying six thousand station personal and their families. I have them prepared to move to Veil One and Two for assignment.

"Next we have thirty-five long haul barges from Virgon, Caprica, Picon and Scorpio. Each is fully loaded with whatever cargo they were carrying. Helen, they will be forwarding their cargo manifest to your office so we know what we have in supplies. The same goes with the freighters and cargo ships."

"I will let you know what we have and let both of you know," Helen replied as she made a note for herself.

"The next set of ships are refinery ships and we have sixty-four of them with sixty-six thousand survivors from all the colonies. Ten of them are quite old and I suggest we render them down for parts. The rest are already stating up production again. We should have enough to supply every ship several times over."

"See to it," Moiré ordered as she signed the paper and passed it to Helen.

"We made out like bandits on the next three classes of ships. The first is foundry ships. We have fifty of them from small to large. We should be able to produce any part for the fleet that we'll need. Two of the larger ones were producing amour plate for the fleet ship yards at Scorpio. They were able to yank fifty-six thousand survivors off of Virgon before the fleet bought it.

"Next are thirty-six electronic ships, some were assigned to produce parts for the new _Mercury's_ and _Nova's_ under construction while others were for civilian ships. They picked twenty-seven thousand civilians from around the systems.

"The third group jumped away from all over the colonies. From depots, asteroids, stations, fully loaded down with supplies and personal they lifted off from mining sites. They are eighty-nine mining ships that escaped with just over ninety thousand survivors. Over half are miners that we desperately need to mine the minerals we need to fix the ships. They are already setting up their operations on the new asteroids we had towed in before the attack happened. Several foundry ships are assisting them producing the parts they had to leave behind.

"The next class of ships jumped out with the mining ships. They are ore haulers and there are ninety-six of them carrying around nine hundred civilians plus their crews. Five are so old, I don't know how they are still flying and ten more are getting along in years. Of the ninety-six, seventy-one have full loads of ores.

"We do have some help for the foundry ships along with the ore carriers, until the mining ships start producing enough ore. We have twenty-one scrap haulers that I have planned to jump to the _Andraste_ battle site. With their ram scoops they should be able to gather tons of the destroyed ships to be recycled. I have ten Gunstars going with them as soon as their repairs are completed. There were sixteen hundred survivors onboard that I had moved to other ships," Mathew reported as he handed four pages to his boss.

"Good, tell them to watch for bodies. Any recovered we'll try to identify who they are and give them a burial," Moiré said as she signed the four pages and passed them to Helen and took two back from her that she quickly read and ordered, "Have them move the Theda class ships over to Smelter one and start supplying them with bar stock so we can replace the ammo we used up. Also see if one of them can produce some nuclear missiles for us otherwise our strike capacity will be limited until we can get some more from the wrecks."

"I'll get right on it once the meeting is finished," Helen replied as she took the papers back.

"Continue with your report Mathew," Moiré ordered.

"We're getting down to the nit and gritty of the remaining ships which are basic support ships. We have twenty-seven fast couriers used for fleet dispatches. They jumped from all over the system with thirty-four hundred survivors. Nineteen prison ships with eleven thousand crew and guards. They are guarding fifty-seven thousand prisoners which I have no idea what were going to do with them."

"Go through their arrest records. See what we can use and release them. I know Adar has several hundred teachers arrested. If they're in the ships, we'll need them to teach the surviving children. As to the very hard core like terrorists, have them executed. We don't need to keep them alive to cause trouble and we don't have the room for them. I know it's harsh, but the needs of the fleet must out way their lives," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Mathew replied.

Seeing the anger on the young man's face, Moiré explained her reasoning, "Mathew, I know what I'm doing. Do you think we should have someone like Tom Zarek running around?"

"By the Gods no," Mathew replied as he handed the papers to her and then continued his report, "The next ships we have are twenty one garbage haulers. Not sure if we want to keep them or scrap them. They have a crew of seventy each and have twenty-one hundred survivors onboard. Next we have three large converted liners. They were turned into morgue ships for the emergences that kept popping up on Sagittaron because of their lack of trusting modern medicine. There are one hundred and fifty survivors onboard the ships. Each ship can hold five thousand bodies."

"Well they will come in handy as we search the wrecks. Have them moved over to the wrecked ships so they will be easier to assess them. When I was flown to Veil One, I saw some yachts docked with the station. How many rich bastards brought their toy boats to the Veil?" Moiré asked.

Mathew laughed and replied, "A hundred and seventy-two of them are docked to Veil One, Veil Two and Refuge Stations. I had security check them and some of them look like they emptied their homes on Virgon and Caprica. Some of the shit they brought has no practical use. One had several thousand porcelain and crystal figurines alone."

"and I bet they are demanding special attention," Moiré said with an annoyance in her voice.

"Yes they are, but I told them we don't have the resources to spare. They can shut up, live on their toy boats or be packed in the liners with the rest. They shut up. Now the next ships were a surprise, it seems seventeen FTL capable cutters were able to escape Gemenon with a bunch of priests and acolytes of the temples. They are asking for a several large liners to turn into temples. I told them we'd have to see if it was possible, but not to hold their breaths at this time because of how crowded the ships were. They agreed and just asked us to think about it. We also have sixteen inter colonial parcel service transports in the fleet that escaped the holocaust. I recommended that we arm them with light KEWs and missiles, and set them up as scouts for the fleet. One good addition is we have eighteen small craft carriers that the fleet outsourced to ferry small craft to the outposts and Battle groups. Several are loaded down with Vipers and Raptors, while one has twenty-four stealth craft that were being sent out to us for storage along with pilots and spare parts."

"Those will come in handy. Get them unloaded and prepped for missions around the colonies so we can find out what's going on. Is that it?"

"No, we have two more groups. The first group of ships are specialty pods for the Gunstars and other ships in the fleet. One hundred and forty-seven pods and thirty-three pod ships were able to escape. The reason we have so many pods and Admiral Corman had Picon's Heavy lifters snag them and jump them to us along with the pod ships. We have everything from electronics pods to heavy KEW pods to ground assault pods. I have a list for you.

"Now the last three ships, don't laugh, but I think we'll need them for moral. We have three of Tom Ranger's traveling Circus group. They were at Caprica on a three week tour. They escaped with the evacuation with over twenty-one thousand guests onboard. Caprica station loaded them down with supplies for the evacuation and for the animals they have onboard. Captain Tom says if we supply him with supplies he will have his crew build shelters along the edges of the domes for the survivors until we can get some adequate housing built for them," Mathew said as he handed the last two papers to Moiré.

Seeing Mathew close the file, she asked, "Is that it?" as she took the papers.

Sliding a thin folder out from under the thicker one, he replied, "No. Now for the stations. As you know we have Veil One and Two at full strength. Both are FTL capacity. Each has three hundred Mark V Vipers, ninety Raptors, seventy-five Heavy lifters, forty refulers and fifty-six heavy shuttles.

"Refinery One is fully active and processing ore as fast as it can come in. That includes the smelters for minerals and the Tylium section. Their FTL is fully restored and they have an air wing of thirty Mark IV Vipers, twenty Raptors, thirty shuttles and twenty-five cargo shuttles. Smelter One is running at seventy percent capacity and is currently in the process of cutting up three thirty-five year old liners in their dock. Commander Hanson reports that they don't trust their FTL drive for more than two jumps because of it age. They are currently melting the recovered steel into battle steel for replacements to the damaged ships. The rest is being melted into ingots for later use. They have three wings of twenty Mark III Vipers, ten Raptors, fifty Heavy lifters, and twenty cargo shuttles.

"Refuge Station lost thirty-eight percent of their Viper wings when they were attacked and all their Raptors. I've issued ordered for spares to be delivered to her along with pilots. They also have twenty-six heavy shuttles. Their FTL is under repairs at this time. Now the item that will come in handy is that large section of space dock from Scorpio ship yards. I have had Refuge station and Veil Two placed far enough apart so we can anchor the section between them. This will give us a large docking facility to work from since it contains nine hard points for battlestars and thirty smaller docks. The remaining sections of the dock I had towed to smelter one to be dismantled and recycled down for their basic materials after they're searched for survivors, the dead and supplies."

"Good idea Mathew. Is that it?" Moiré asked with a small yawn.

"No, Ma'am. We received one hundred and thirty shuttles from Admiral Nagala carrying sixty-five thousand colonial personal from his ships. Most are nonessential personal, but there are a lot of marines in there as well. We also received seventy-eight refulers, and three hundred and twelve Heavy lifters along with sixty-six medical shuttles. As to survivors were looking at around three point five million civilian and one hundred forty thousand Colonial personal, thirty-two thousand cadets not counting marines because I don't have a count on them because Colonel Mallard has them running all over the place and setting up guards on the ships. This doesn't include the Veil population before the attack. We have twenty-nine thousand five hundred and ninety wounded scattered on the medical ships and the stations. We have already lost nineteen hundred due to injuries and high levels of radiation and I expect the count to climb."

"So do I, I expect we will lose about half of the wounded. I pray I'm wrong, but this attack was devastating. Start assigning Colonial personal to the rest of the Titans. Let's get them up to their full complement and then start on the other reserve ships. Once all our forces are back in the Veil. Shut down the outer five satellites on tunnel one. We'll use tunnel two because it's closer to the belt and will allow us to gather resources. In a few weeks, we'll power up the main tunnel and start pulling what satellites we can from the tunnel that way we won't have to build new ones. See about getting those liners repaired that were recovered. If their too badly damaged we'll recycle them but I'd rather try and save them. We'll continue scouting with the stealth ships and Raptors for the next few weeks. If we can catch a lone Cylon warship, we'll plan an attack on them, but at this time all attacks on the enemy fleet are suspended until we're ready to leave the Veil and the colonies."

"We're leaving the colonies? Where are we going?" Helen asked.

"Your father said to take the survivors far away and start a new life. We'll have to jump as far away as we can and keep going and hope the Cylons don't find us…"

"What about Adama and the president?" Mathew asked.

"Mathew, if we can find them we will, but we have no idea where they jumped to and I'm not going to try dragging all these ship after them hoping we find them. We can assume the Cylons will be chasing them and have no idea what forces they will send. We know for sure she they have one Battlestar. Who knows what other colonial forces joined up with them? So for the next few months, we'll repair as we reorganize and rebuild as we train up the cadets to help fill in the gaps in the fleet. At the same time we'll check all the outer patrol routes and check for survivors and resources we can use. Helen, I'm putting you in charge of helping organize the civilian ships. Get with Colonel Mallard and have him prepare search teams. We need to search every ship for any type of electronic beacon that could allow the Cylons to track us. Mathew, make sure all ships and small craft are purged of Baltar's command navigation program. Use the older version from the _Titan_. We know it's not infected," Moiré ordered.

"I'll get right on it," Mathew replied as Helen continued writing on her pad.

"If that's all, we'll continue in the morning," Moiré said as she stood up.

"Good night, Ma'am," Mathew said as he saluted his boss and walked out of the room.

"I'll have these typed up for you by morning," Helen stated as she stood up.

"No hurry. Go spend the evening with your kids and mourn your father with their love. I'll see you tomorrow morning," Moiré ordered and smiled when Helen smiled at her.

"As you command," Helen replied and picked up her pad and pen.

Moiré watched her friend walk out of her office as she crossed to the liquor cabinet and filled a tumbler with ambrosia. Taking a sip, she walked into her living space and sat down and cried. She cried for the loss of all her friends and family.

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**Please leave a comment, it only takes a second.**

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_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	14. Chapter 12

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Twelve**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**Eighteen hours into the attack;**

**Sector 1354.22;**

**Just past the Redline;**

**Secondary command Baseship_;_**

John Cavil sat in his command chair tapping his fingers of his right hand on the armrest. Around him, his command staff was gathering reports from around the destroyed colonies. Taking a sip from the glass in his left hand he waited for the reports as the liquor settled onto his empty stomach.

"John, I have a report on our losses for you. We lost a total of one hundred and thirty-eight Baseships, ninety-eight destroyers, and one hundred and thirty Supportstars. Five Baseships and two destroyers are missing in action at the Veil. Your attack has crippled the fleet. We have fifty-seven baseships. One hundred and nine destroyers and one hundred and eighty Supportstars left out of the fleet. Five Baseships, nineteen destroyers and twenty Supportstars were damaged at Virgon and will take anywhere from three months to a year to repair. You sent twenty of the Baseships after the _Galactica_ along with twenty destroyers and fifteen Supportstars. We have thirty Baseships under construction, along with fifteen destroyers. The first one will come on line in less than a month with five more within a week. The rest are scattered over a six month period. Your attack crippled us in our ability to strike at the humans," Anthony Cavil reported.

"We lost the ships, but we didn't lose anyone because of the resurrection technology we have," John stated.

"What about the ships we lost at the Veil. We lost ninety of or brothers and sisters along with several thousand Raiders. Somehow they didn't resurrect and we have no idea what happened inside the Veil because the entrance is gone. We don't even know what ships escaped out of the Veil or where they went," Anthony stated.

"We'll find them. It's not like they have planets to run to for help," John replied as he watched one of the number six's come towards them, "Report."

"John, we just lost three more Supportstars out by Ragnar…"

"How?" John snapped out in anger.

"Thirty Raptors jumped in on top of them. Twenty Raptors fired eighty missiles at them. They were ten kiloton nuclear warheads. The remaining ten launched eighty Spike missiles at the Raider Patrols around the three ships with devastating power. Of the sixty Raiders on patrol forty-nine were destroyed and ten crippled before they could fire. Only two Raptors were destroyed in the attack. Markings on the Raptors place them as Depot Veil units."

"Do any of you have any good news?" John snarled out in anger at his companions.

"Well we captured several Colonial and civilian ships including several full tankers. Our assault teams using Heavy Raiders took three _Tannhauser _class Tylium Tankers before they knew it along with the _Jupiter_ class Battlestar _Justice_. Each tanker can resupply several of our ships while our Centurions bring the Caprica Refinery back to full production. The nineteenth Gunstar division was finally wiped out along with most of the civilian ships they were protecting. Unfortunately the one ship we had an agent on was destroyed in the last attack and the rest jumped away. Our landings on all the Colonies are fully underway and we have taken every capital and most of the major cities that we used neutron bombs on…"

"What about the Colonial fleet units? How many more escaped?"

"Don't get pissed off when I tell you or I'll have you boxed. Do you understand me?" James Cavil said as he walked over.

"I'm in charge James," John snapped out as he started to get up.

James pointed his index finger at John and snarled out, "Don't get up. Now you know you're only in charge is because we allow it at this time. Now will you behave?"

"Yes James, I will," John stated as he sat back in his chair.

"Good. Now this is what we know. The _Galactica_ has seventy-three ships with her including two crippled Gunstars. The _Pegasus_ was detected jumping away from Scorpio as well as several civilian ships. We know that three of the _Titans_ class Battlestars that were in the reserve fleet is confirmed active from the Veil but they must be seriously undermanned along with escort ships that were stationed there for security. We can confirm the destruction of eight-nine Battlestars, forty-three Warstars, three hundred Gunstars, four hundred and thirty-nine Patrolstars and Strikestars. We cannot confirm at this time the destruction of thirty-one of the remaining Battlestars that were on active duty. We know some were docked with stations or nearby and we're still going over the memories of our raiders to see if they were destroyed when the stations were destroyed. Most of the support fleet is unconfirmed as well as several thousand civilian ships. Scouts report that several of the reserve Depots were missing ships when the Raiders finally attacked and nuked the remaining ships and storage facilities.

"Refuge station is missing along with over a dozen Depots that were in last year's manifest. The _Nova_ shipyard is missing as well with the three _Nova's _that were under construction in the docks along with her ten support ships and fifteen Gunstars. We know the three Novas' were nowhere near being completed. Even if they do complete them, where would they get the crews for them?

"Intercepts of Colonial transmissions from the _Atlantia_ and Picon fleet headquarters mention several codenames, an operation Linebacker and Viper-one-Baker-Gamma-Tango. What they are, we don't know. We're trying to get into what's left of Picon Fleet headquarters and to the main computer station but its buried two miles below ground and nuking the headquarters to take out Corman collapsed the tunnels to the station. We have a boring machine making a new tunnel as we speak. It will be done in a week," James reported.

Anthony leaned down and whispered into John's ear, "We have also determined that some of the final five are with the _Galactica_. What do you want to do about them?"

John sat there as a tick started forming at the corner of his left eye, "James, what do you mean the Nova shipyards are missing? How can a shipyard vanish? Find it and destroy it. Along with Veil Depot and any other colonial units you find. Call in all the support ships and have them take over the eradication of the humans on the colonies. Form Battle groups of three Baseships and three destroyers each. They are to start searching for the human warships and destroying them. Flood the systems with Raiders, and arm all Heavy Raiders with fifty megaton warheads. When you find them, you are to wipe them out. Notify the Battlegroup chasing the _Galactica_ that I'll be joining them with my Baseship and to hold off on any serious attack until I get there. Anthony you're in charge of eradicating the humans here while I destroy the _Galactica_. I'll be taking one of the resurrection ships with me along with the colony."

"You cannot take the colony we need her to produce more Hybrids for our new ships," Anthony stated.

"Have them produce enough to keep you going and transfer them to one of the support ships until we return. You have nine hours before I leave," John snapped in anger as his mind was thinking of what would happen if the final five remembered who they were and what he had done to them. Standing up he started pacing behind his command chair.

"As you command," Anthony replied and left the room as John started issuing orders to prepare the ship for long range FTL jumping.

James looked at his brothers wondering what was going on between the two of them and why John looked worried. Clearing his throat he said, "We did take Virgon station in tack and the computer systems report that over three hundred civilian ships along with many Raptors, Heavy lifters, refulers and shuttles jumped away from the planet before you wiped out the Colonia fleet. Where they jumped to, we don't know because the communications logs were wiped and reformatted. I have experts working on the hard drives but I'm not expecting any information to be recovered. I had the station searched and its storage facilities were stripped of supplies as were all the shops. Hell they even took the toilet paper from the bathrooms…"

One of the sixes looked up from the data stream she was accessing and said, "John, Baseship 123 has been destroyed out by Armistice station by three Warstars that jumped right on top of her. They appeared and before they could launch or fire their missiles they were hit multiple times in the central column destroying the ship.

"FRAKEN SON OF A BITCH!" John screamed out as he grabbed the back of his chair and ripped it from its mount. Hurling the chair, he never noticed as it went through one of the data streams hitting the number six in the chest.

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**Please Leave a review!**

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_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	15. Chapter 13

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Thirteen**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**One week after the attack;**

**Veil Depot;**

**Station Veil;**

Moiré looked up as the door flew open and Commander Mathew Torrez walked quickly into the room, "Admiral, we have a situation."

Setting the pen down that was in her right hand she looked at her second in command, "What is the problem?"

"Lieutenant John 'Skydiver' Howards just jumped back to the Veil. He and his unit found fifteen civilian non ftl capable ships hiding inside the asteroid belt. They need Heavy lifters or several ships to evacuate the crews and passengers."

"How in Hades did they get out there?" Moiré asked in shock.

"They were found by the Pegasus under Admiral Helen Cain. Ma'am, the ships originally had FTL drives. Admiral Cain plundered them. She had her marines kill several families, kidnapped personal and surviving civilians before stripping the ships of weapons, fuel and their drives."

"Son of a bitch!" Moiré snapped out in anger, "Notify all commands that Admiral Helen Cain is now wanted for war crimes. If she is encountered, they are to try and apprehend her. Dispatch the fifth, sixth and seventh Heavy lift squadron to bring the ships here. Notify the medical ships they have wounded coming. When the ships get here they are to be jumped in the queue to be repaired, refueled and resupplied. Make sure they know this is an apology from the Colonial fleet for the stain of shame that Admiral Cain committed against them."

"I will make sure its mentioned to them," Mathew replied.

"Then go rescue those survivors," Moiré ordered and watched Mathew leave the room.

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**Three weeks after the attack;**

**Veil Depot;**

**Station Veil;**

Moiré leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head. With a yawn she stood up and bent backwards until her spine popped. She had been going over the reports for the last five hours on the damaged ships. She had sent three more crippled warships to the scrapheap that had been recovered from various battle sites. The _Mercury_ class Battlestars _Juggernaut, Hades_ and _Hellfire_ had been so badly damaged all they were good for were parts. They had rescued nine hundred survivors and dozens of small craft from all three ships. While three of the four _Gander_ class utility carriers with full loads of cargo and small craft. The fourth had been abandoned after being heavily damaged by Cylon Raiders and was now sitting with the derelict ships to be decided if she should be repaired or scrapped for parts.

Picking up her coffee cup, Moiré started to take a sip when the door opened and her secretary stepped inside the room.

"Admiral, Commander Torrez wishes to see you. He says its important," Helen Nagala said from the door way.

Straightening up, Moiré replied, "Send him in."

She watched as her second in command strolled into the room. His face was set in a serious expression as he came to a stop and saluted.

"What's wrong Mathew?" Moiré asked.

Mathew opened his mouth and tried to figure out how to tell his boss. Finally he just spurted it out, "Ma'am, you need to come with me to medical."

"What's up with medical?" Moiré asked as she picked up her fleet jacket and slid it on.

"You won't believe me unless you see if for yourself," Mathew replied as they started walking to the door.

"How goes the reorganizing of the ships for when we leave the Veil?" Moiré asked as she thought to herself, 'I better promote him to Rear Admiral in case something happens to me.'

"It's going good. I have organized the _Titans_ into two attack groups. The first is with the _Titan, Corus_ and _Cronus._ The second has the _Eos, Selene,_ and the _Helios._ Each group has four Warstars, eight Gunstars and ten Strikestars as escorts. I have set up the civilian ships into three groups, Each group has two _Mercury_ class Battlestars and the Nova with them. They will also have one of the three remaining _Titan_ ships as protection. The inner ring of defense will be the Assaultstars and the outer will be some of the Gunstars, Patrolstars and Firestars. I have formed two strike wings with the _Valkyries, Columbias, Jupiters_ and the _Armageddon_ class Battlestars with a dozen Gunstars and Patrolstars as escorts. As a heavy attack unit, I have all the remaining Warstars in one group as a fast strike response," Mathew reported as Mathew pressed the call button for the elevators and the doors opened.

"What about the colony ships. We're not leaving until we can reduce the number of ships in the fleet," Moiré asked as they stepped into the elevator.

Mathew hit the button for level ten before responding, "I think they will be finished a month early. I didn't know how advanced the auto manufacturing systems were on those _Leviathans._ They have already started inclosing the keel and ribs. I have several of the smaller foundry ships producing the domes that will go on each while several more foundry ships producing the internal walls for the ships. With us outsourcing the building the _Leviathans_ can concentrate on the hulls. When a hull is finished we can move it to one of the _Hephasetus_ docks for completion…"

"I thought the Hephasetus were finishing the repairs on the _Firestars_ Frigates and _Circe_ Patrolstar," Moiré asked as the doors slid open and they started walking down the hallway.

"They are. The colony ships won't be moved for another three months. By that time all the _Firestars_ and _Circe_ should be completely repaired.

Moiré noticed the dozen marines standing guard at the end of the hallway and her eyebrow went up. Turning her head she said, "What gives?"

"You will see once we get inside," Mathew replied as the Marine at the door opened the hatch.

Stepping into the medical wing, she noticed that every bed in the seventy bed ward was full. What caught her attention was that the patients all looked like several others in the beds.

"What is going on?" Moiré asked as she looked at the older man lying on the bed to her right and another to his left that was his twin. Both were handcuffed to their beds and seemed to be asleep.

"Three of the wards are full of these clones. It seems the Cylons have been able to produce themselves in human form. From what one of the woman who calls herself a six, the Cylons have twelve versions of themselves. Six are inactive while these six were used to infiltrate and sabotage the fleet and civilian sectors."

Standing there, Moiré saw red as she remembered the last time she had seen Caprica, "Toss them out an airlock and into the nebula."

"I wouldn't do that Admiral," said a soft voice.

Turning her head, Moiré looked at the blond woman lying on one of the beds, "Why shouldn't I?" she asked.

"Because if you do, we'll download into the nearest resurrection ship and our memories will be accesses by the rest of the collective. We… the Cylons have the ability to download our memories and be resurrected into new bodies. So if you kill us, they will know where you are. By the way, my name is Amanda and I'm what is called a number six. So you know, not all Cylons wanted war but we were out voted."

"Why didn't you tell us or find somewhat to warn us that an attack was coming," Moiré asked as she faced the woman.

"We did. Why do you think Admiral Corman and Nagala transferred you here? Using our calculations we went through the fleet high command roster and out of all of them, you were the best statistic of saving as many people as possible. We helped allow some of your warships to escape or be transferred here by using President Adar's office. That's why you got the last three Titans and several Warstars that should have been destroyed at Picon Depot and Reflex Depot. We also had most of the _Leviathans_ and _Hephasetus_ transferred to the Veil as well. What you don't know is I worked in Picon Fleet Personal and I routed many of your people here that we're on our kill lists. Pilots and gunners that scored extremely high on their testing along with their families were sent here because we knew you would need them. We also made sure that hundreds of obsolete Vipers and Raptors found their way to your station."

"So basically it was a conspiracy within your high command. I still don't know what to do with you all?" Moiré stated as she looked at the woman.

"Yes it was…"

"So which models are in on it or which of you all were, I should ask."

"I'm now some of my brothers and sisters were involved with me, but the rest you would need to ask them and watch their reactions. Let them make the first move. I can tell you the ones I wouldn't trust are the number ones and the fives. They are all followers of John, The eights, twos, fours, fives and threes you will have to take on a case by case interview while I can ask the sixes for you," Amanda stated as she nodded towards the man on the other bed.

"Mathew, if I remember right one of the prison ships is empty. Remove the crew, and replace them with Marines. Have the Number one model of the human formed Cylons sent to them. Have the ship docked with the station and then have them transferred to the cells. Once they are onboard the ship, have the ship moved to as far away from the emergency exits and have the engines and FTL drive disabled. We have supplies and guards rotated out to the ship from the Assaultstars. This is to be classified as a Code Red. No one and I mean no one is to know about them. Also station two _Firestars_ nearby. If the ship starts moving after its engines are disabled, they are to blow it to bits. Amanda, I will let you know on your line, but I am not sure how the survivors will react if they find out about you or the rest of you. What about the sevens, and nine through twelve models. Mathew said they are inactive. Why?" Moiré asked.

"The sevens models just died. Why we don't know, only the final five know and we don't even know why they left us," Amanda replied as she picked up her glass and took a sip of water.

"I see. Do you even know what they look like?"

"No, we don't. Also, so you know it was Gaius Baltar who allowed us access to infiltrate your CNP program. He was duped by one of my sister models that allowed us to install the back door… Wait don't scream at me in anger. You need to know that the program was never meant to be used. We only went forward with the plan when you sent a stealthstar into our territory. That's when the ones, twos, fours, fives and some of the eights decided you were planning to attack us. We voted and it the ones who didn't want to attack were out voted, so the attack was planned while the ships we needed were built."

"Operation Skipjump," Moiré said with a quiet whisper.

"Exactly, Operation Skipjump was the reason. If your high command hadn't sent that ship into our territory, we would not attacked, well not at this time. As it is we did and we destroyed most of your people and from what I gather your fleet destroyed a lot of our ships, which is a Victory for us because our losses are not permanent while yours are with the destruction of your ships and crews while ours can be rebuilt and the crews restored with the help of the resurrection ships."

"So we brought it on ourselves," Moiré stated.

"No. I think it was a catalyst, but if it wasn't Skipjump, it would have been something else. The hate on both sides is so strong. For us, it's John Cavil and the number ones and on yours it's that we rebelled and waged war on you because we refused to be slaves anymore…"

"Their machines," Mathew snapped out.

"If you cut me, I bleed. I have dreams, I eat, sleep just like you. We have evolved where we can make our own bodies. We can even feel emotions. Just last week I cried when a child died in my arms aboard the ship I was on. She had fallen and injured herself. I held her while we waited for medical to arrive, but it was too late. If you were to do an MRI on our bodies we would look identical to any other woman or man on the insides. We are stronger and faster than a normal human because of tiny filaments of fiber optic that course through our bodies that show on an MRI as normal nerves but otherwise would you be able to tell we were not born human?" Amanda said as she started coughing.

"No I wouldn't. So what should we do with you?" Moiré asked when the woman stopped coughing and wiped her mouth with a napkin and she noticed the blood on it.

"Let us help you for our atonement," Amanda said as she coughed again.

"Are you ok?" Mathew asked.

"Side effect from the Nebula's radiation, were safe here on the station because of its armor, but on the ships it was affecting us more than it should have. I'm not sure what it will do to us in the long term but for now we should be ok."

"Mathew, cancel the order on the prison ship. Use cargo bay thirty-three. Its next to the marine barracks six. Turn it into a prison. Once the prisoners are able to be moved, we'll move them there. Make sure I want them treated humanely. No beatings or any hands on. Have them interviewed by the CID unit we have here and they are to report to you. Make sure they know that nothing about them is to be released to the civilian population. All we need is a witch hunt in the fleet," Moiré ordered and then looked back at the woman and said, "I hope you're really sincere about what you're saying otherwise I'll put you on a ship and send you deep into the nebula. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Amanda replied.

"Then good luck Amanda. Please don't fail my trust," Moiré stated as Mathew and her walked out of the medical ward.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Five weeks after the attack;**

**Ragnar;**

**Battlestar _Titan;_**

Moiré stood on the bridge watching as the five _Titan_ class Battlestars came out of FTL. Dradis picked up the five Cylon Baseships parked at the entrance to the Ragnor anchorage.

"_Titan_ to all Battlestars. Pick one of the Baseships and open fire.

The WEPS officer aboard the _Titan_ picked out one of the Cylon Baseships and locked his main guns on the ship and prepared to opened fire. Around the five ships, their screening elements opened up on the incoming Raiders while the Vipers of the Battlestars launched in waves of sixty from each Battlestar.

"We're ready to fire on your command Admiral," the WEPS officer reported.

"Gunner, target the central part of the Baseship and open fire. Armor piercing rounds in ripple fire," Moiré ordered.

_Titan_ shuddered as her big forward guns started firing. Every ten seconds one of the twelve massive gun turrets fired their deadly cargo while her lighter defenses opened up on the incoming Raiders putting up a wall of death that nothing could get through.

"I have incoming missiles, one hundred and counting. Detecting radiological signatures in the missiles swarms," the WEPS officer shouted out.

"Make sure you intensify the flak batteries. We cannot let anything get through to hit us," Moiré ordered.

"All defensive batteries are firing. All screening elements have switched from Raiders to incoming missiles," one of the CIC officers.

"Expedite launching of Vipers. We…"

"We got one… no two gone. Remaining three are heavily damaged and trying to withdraw… _Cronus_ just took out one more. _Corus_ took out hers. Last one has jumped. Raiders are trying to withdraw."

"Let them go. Order all Vipers home to take up a CAP position. Launch the Raptors and get me a damage report," Moiré ordered.

Eight Raptors were quickly launched. Six headed into the anchorage to check on Ragnor station while two jumped away to the Veil. Ten minutes later twelve _Octopus_ tugs appeared along with their escorts and entered the anchorage. One of the ships was a massive Assaultstar carrying seven thousand marines to inspect the station.

"Admiral, all ships reporting in. No damage, we took them by surprise but we did loose twelve Vipers and eight pilots," the com officer reported.

"Thank you Ensign. Have all ships stay at condition Red until we jump away," Moiré ordered.

"Dradis contact. I have IFF on all ships. It's the rest of the guard fleet," Commander Rick Wilson reported.

"Have the rest of the fleet to take up station along our flanks," Moiré ordered.

On the Dradis board the fleet sat around the entrance to Ragnar Station as the newer ships took up their assigned postions. Their weapons primed for the Cylons to jump in.

"Now we wait," Moiré said as she watched the last of the tugs vanish down the chute to Ragnar.

"How long do you think it will take?" Commander Wilson asked as he handed a cup of coffee to Moiré.

Moiré took the offered cup and replied, "Captain Timmy Hawks of tug one said about thirty minutes to link up all the tugs and push the station out of the anchorage which will take about ninety minutes once they get her moving. The good thing is they already have the jump coordinates programmed into the jump computer so they can jump right away."

One of the ensigns set the clock to start counting down and while the waited, they watched and listened. Moiré was sitting in her chair going over some reports when the buzzer for the clock went off and she handed the clipboard off to the aide while she stood and walked to the Dradis station.

"Put the entrance up on the main monitor. Send a message to all Vipers to start landing," she ordered and then said, "Have all ships power up their FTL drives so we can jump as soon as the last viper is landed."

The eighty inch main monitor came on and the image focused on the entrance to the anchorage. As they watched it started swirling as the station started appearing from the depths like a giant submarine surfacing. The station was so large that parts of it were inside the gas giant as it came out and they noticed some of the smaller docking pylons were missing while the larger ones were folded down along the hull of the spindle like station. Behind the station appeared the tugs escorts and the Assaultstar.

"FTL windows opening up. Ma'am the Cylons are here. I'm counting ten no twelve ships… fourteen ships have now appeared. Cylons are launching Raiders and missiles."

"Send to all ships, condition red and close with the enemy. All ships pick a target an open fire. Message to tug one they are to jump away ASAP," Moiré ordered as the _Titan_ shuddered and started moving. Around her, five more _Titans_, twelve _Warstars,_ twenty-four _Gunstars,_ twenty _Patrolstars_ and twenty _Firestar_ Frigates opened fire with their main batteries as their defensive weapons turned space around the incoming raiders into a metal storm of death.

Cylon Raiders and missiles were swatted from space before they could get within striking range. Heavy Raiders jumped inside the defensive formation and were swatted from the sky from the Firestar defensive fire along with the remaining Vipers that were still in the air. Two Raiders slammed into the side of the Firstar class frigate _Rhodian_ and she blew up when the warheads inside the internal bays of the Raiders detonated. Another Raider slammed into the heavily armored side of the Corus, breaching several compartments, and destroying two sections of light KEWs.

"Corus has taken damage. _Rhodian_ has been destroyed," Rick reported.

"I see that. Tell all remaining Vipers to defend the Battlestars…"

"Ragnor is away," came a shout.

"Notify all Vipers to begin combat landings," Moiré ordered.

"All Vipers, land your birds. You're authorized combat landings," the com officer said into her handset.

"Vipers landing now. Ninety seconds until the last bird is down."

The seconds counted down slowly as Vipers landed on all six of the _Titan_ class Battlestars using all the flight decks. The numbers went down from four hundred to less than twenty and finally the last one landed.

"All Vipers are down."

Moiré picked up her handset and started talking, "Attention all ships, start your jumps," Moiré ordered.

Ships started vanishing and as the defensive fire fell away, missiles started streaking in and hitting ships. Two Warstars took a nuclear hit in their bows before they vanished into FTL space while another _Firestar_ vanished into oblivion when a fifty megaton warhead destined for the _Eos_ was confused by the ECM units being launched from the ships. The missile hit the midsection of the small ship and five hundred colonial personal died as ten thousand were saved.

Moiré watched the expanding fireballs as three more Baseships blew up under the combined firepower of her fleet just as the ships jumped away to safety. Finally the last escort was gone and the six giant ships vanished as one. Behind them, they left several destroyed enemy ship and the rest damaged.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Five weeks after the attack;**

**Ragnar;**

**Baseship 89_;_**

For Anthony Cavil fumed as he watched the Colonial fleet escaped into FTL. The day had started out good when six civilian ships had been found and destroyed but as he watched his fleet being ripped apart. All he felt was anger at his stupidity.

"Well this is another fine mess you and John have put us in. Now instead of increasing the fleet, we've lost seven Baseships, and thousands of Raiders as well as damage to twelve more for the destruction of two obsolete _Firestar_ frigates," Brandy Six reported.

"Shut up and land our fighters. We'll jump to the mobile shipyard for repairs. Order our Raiders to continue the search for the human fleet. They have to be hiding somewhere," Anthony snapped in anger as he stalked out of the room.

**.**

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**Please leave a comment, it only takes a second.**

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_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	16. Chapter 14

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Thirteen**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

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**.**

**Four months after the attack;**

**Veil Depot;**

**Raptor flying through the Veil;**

Moiré watched out the main window of the small craft as the ship approached the _Leviathan _class mobile docks. Inside each ship she knew that ten colony ships were nearing completion and would soon help the overcrowding of the fleet. As the small craft turned and headed past the _Leviathans_ the _Hephasetus_ and _Ranger_ class docks came inside. Each of the _Hephasetus _had half a dozen ships docked to repair pylons being repaired. While the Rangers were attached to three Mercury class Battlestars and two damaged Warstars.

As they ducked under one of the Rangers, their target came into sight, space station Nova and her giant construction docks. Inside each of the three docks were the uncompleted hulls of three _Nova_ class Battlestars.

Moiré looked at her second and command and said, "You know Mathew, I cannot believe they used the uncompleted Nova's to jump the station."

"Neither could I, but I'm glad to have them even if it would take eighteen months to complete them. Hell the thirty thousand construction workers and their families are worth more than those three ships. With them we have been able to complete repairs on all our damaged warships and upped the _Leviathans_ to three shifts of workers on the colony ships which will allow us to have them on lone next month," Commander Mathew Torrez said as the Raptor descended to the docking bay of the construction station.

"I agree. That's why I have suspended the construction of the ships. I gave the ordered to have them pulled out of their slips to free up the docks. We can build two colony ships in each dock which will give us more civilian lift capacity for the fleet. The _Nova's_ will be taken over by three of the _Rangers_ when they finish work on the Gunstars. Construction will be slower on them, but they are not a priority right now," Moiré stated as the Raptor settled onto the flight deck.

"That will all months to their construction," Mathew replied as they exited the Raptor.

"All hands, now here this. Veil Commander arriving," came a voice over the speaker mounted in the roof.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Four months after the attack;**

**Sector 2373.137;**

**CIC of the Warstar _Horn;_**

Lieutenant-Commander Andrew Hathaway stood at the Dradis table inside his damaged ship. He was the last surviving CIC officer of the once proud ship. On the screen, it showed the rest of the survivors of the small fleet. Three damaged Gunstars, three unarmed Warstars, nine passenger liners, three Tylium tanker, an Octopus tug towing a crippled Assaultstar, four refinery ships, fourteen freighters, seven mining ships, a foundry ship, an Agro ship and the _Hephaestus _class repair ship _Trier,_ docked with the_ Trier _were the damaged _Valkyrie_ class Battlestar _Midgard_ which had heavily damaged from six nuclear missiles in the last attack. In front of the _Midgard_ was the wrecked _Mercury_ class Battlestar _Zeus_ that was being stripped of her parts to be eventually used to refurnish the Warstars. On the top two pylons were a pair of non-ftl capable passenger liners, the _Gyros_ and _Tier _with three thousand passengers each while inside her massive landing bays were ten more_._ In the whole fleet there were one hundred and thirteen thousand civilian survivors and thirty-nine thousand Colonial personal.

The worst part was they had left behind four crippled civilian ships after they escaped. They had been able to strip all the ships using the _Trier,_ and moved the seven thousand civilians aboard the _Trier._ They were over populated but it was better than leaving them behind. The crews of the ships had been spaced out among the fleet to help supplement them. They had also lost two Battlestars and six Gunstars in the opening attack at Mayan Depot.

"Status report," Andrew asked as he ripped his eyes from the Dradis screen.

"Sir, damage control teams have finally extinguished the last of the fires and they have started what repairs they can. Starboard side weapons are offline, flight bay is still depressurized but they are working on restoring the bay."

"Medical reports forty-nine dead and one hundred and ten more wounded. That leaves us with less than four hundred able to fix the ship."

"Com, send a message to the _Trier,_ ask if they can send us some of the survivors from the _Zeus_ to fill out our crew complement. Also ask on the condition of Admiral Grays and see if he's out of surgery yet. Send a message to the Gunstars _Zephyr_ and _Morrison_ to prep their Raptors for reconnaissance. We need to know what we're jumping into."

Seventy-three year old Vice-Admiral Howard Grays had been badly injured when the _Zeus's_ flag bridge was hit by enemy fire. Most of the personal had been killed before the blast doors had sealed off the compartment from the main CIC. Howard had been trapped under a monitor support beam and several pieces of shrapnel had hit him in both legs and his upper chest. Midgard had destroyed the Baseship that had closed with the_ Zeus_ by jumping into the attack, but the _Zeus_ had lost her bow, and her engine rooms to enemy fire.

"Helm, plot our next series of jumps and give the coordinates to the com officer for transmission to the rest of the fleet," Andrew ordered.

"Coordinates plotted. Ashley, sending you the coordinates… now," Ensign Miles Bowfin the helm officer replied as he started typing the numbers into the FTL computer.

"Got them, Miles, sending them out now… Sir, all ships acknowledge receiving the jump coordinates," Ensign Ashley Hope reported.

"Notify all ships as soon as we complete the jump, they are to spool up their FTL drives again for another jump. I want to put some distance from the last battle. We need distance," Andrew ordered.

"Sending your orders, now, Sir," Ashley replied.

"Then start jumping the fleet," Andrew ordered.

The first ship to go was two of the Gunstars followed by the _Trier_. As the civilian ships started vanishing a voice called out.

"Dradis contact, forty miles. Multiple contacts."

"IFF and numbers?" Andrew asked.

"Negative on IFF identification and two large ships. They're Cylons and they're launching Raiders."

"How long until the last of the civilian fleet has jumped?"

"Thirty seconds, enemy forces closing. They'll be in range in forty seconds. It will be close."

"Roll the ship twenty degrees on her portside axis, and fire a double spread of missiles at the Baseships. Include two ten kiloton nuclear missiles in the second spread. They are to detonate as soon as the Raiders have closed with the incoming missiles and started taking them out. Have the nukes in the back of the missile spread so that the other missiles obscure them. Hold the jump until the Cylons fire on us and then jump the ship. If we do this right we should be able to take out a chunk of their fighter support," Anthony ordered.

The _Odin_ class Warstar _Horn_ shuddered as thirty-two missiles belched from the missiles rooms and streaked towards the incoming Raiders and Baseships. The missiles spread out and slowed down, they were followed by a second wave that held the nuclear missiles and quickly caught the first wave. Once all the missiles were together the boosted to their top speed and hurdled through space.

"Cylons Raiders are in range and have opened fired."

Two hundred Raiders opened their missile bays and each dropped a pair of nuclear missile. Twelve hundred missiles streaked towards the colonial ships just twenty seconds away. Once the missiles were away, the Raiders opened fire on the missiles heading towards their Baseships.

"Missiles inbound, eighteen seconds away," came the report.

"Missiles will detonate in three… two… Detonate."

Andrew watched as two nuclear explosions happened. The missiles wiped out a hundred fighters as they swarmed the missile storm trying to find the pair of nuclear missiles. "Jump the remaining ships," he ordered as the incoming missiles reached attack range.

One by one the remaining ships vanished leaving the Cylons behind to recover their damaged fighters.

Fourteen light years away, the _Horn_ appeared out of FTL among the rest of the fleet. "Spool up the FTL drive and jump us again," Andrew ordered.

The ships started jumping again, and then jumped again and again. Eight hours and fifty-six light years away from the last attack they appeared at the edge of a small solar system that had three planets. None were habitable, and one, a small gas giant had a thick ring of asteroids that circled it. Jumping the fleet once more, they took up station on the far side of the planet just near the belt where they could hide if they had too.

"Commander Hathaway, Admiral Grays is out of surgery and is awake and is asking for you to report to him on the _Trier_," Ashley reported. "Also Commander Blackthorn is sending over a pair of shuttle with five hundred of the _Zeus_ crew to help fill the ships complement until our wounded are released from their medical bay."

"Thank you, Ashley. I'll go change so I can catch a ride back to the _Trier_ with their shuttles," Andrew reported.

"Sir, the mining ships request permission to start mining some of the asteroids for minerals. They have detected several that could rebuild their stocks that they've been using to help repair the damaged ships."

"Tell them they can mine, but to only use equipment that they can afford to lose. Only one bore machine per ship and make sure they stay close to the asteroid they are working on. Notify the _Morrison_ that I want them on guard over those three ships. Notify all ships I want a status report of supplies, fuel consumption and if they have any sick or wounded that they can be sent to the _Trier _for medical attention. Also notify all ships to go to Code Blue, minimum power output, and to keep their FTL drives warmed up in case we need to jump again. Have the _Trier_ dispatch a dozen Raptors to various asteroids for Dradis picket. We need to know if the Cylons show up so we can get away."

"Yes, Sir," Ashley replied.

Andrew left the CIC and headed for his quarters where he took a shower and changed into a clean uniform. Ten minutes later he was aboard one of the shuttles heading for the _Trier _and his first meeting with Admiral Grays. The shuttle quickly flew across the gap to the gigantic ship and entered one of the massive landing bays. He could see five colonial heavy liners being worked on. Each of the three hundred foot long crafts were parked next to each other, leaving a narrow space for the Raptors, shuttles and Vipers to be able to launch from the side of the bay. The shuttle settled onto the outer landing pad and was towed through the force screen that kept the atmosphere inside the bay behind her the second shuttles settled on to the pad and quickly followed her sister ship and then the massive doors closed behind them.

"What's the status of those liners?" Andrew asked the pilot.

"They are almost finished being converted. Three are going to be small arms and ammunition factories, the last two will be manufacturing ships producing canning and glass products. This way we can store some of the food the _Trier_ and Agro ships are producing. We're also looking for a source of oil so we can produce some plastic items like bottles. Right now we're recycling the bottles we have, but they won't last forever," the pilot reported as he picked up the handset, "Attention everyone. We are now docked and medical personal are standing by to take you to medical. Good luck, and with the Lords of Kobol watching over you, we'll have you back aboard the _Horn_ in no time."

"Thank you," Andrew said as he stood up.

"No, thank you, Sir. Without you, we would have been destroyed when you took out that Baseship when it jumped almost on top of us."

"Let's leave it even for now. Do you know where Admiral Grays is?" Andrew said.

"He is still in the medical ward due to his injuries," the pilot replied,

Patting the young man on his shoulder, Andrew left the shuttle and followed the stretchers as they were taken to the medical ward for treatment. Around him the crew of the giant repair ship hustled as they did their jobs. Some were doing internal work, while others were carrying boxes to other compartments, while even others were jogging down the center of the ten foot corridor staying within the lines in full combat gear. Andrew watched as the dozen marines jogged past him uttering a cadence as they ran.

The stretchers came to the medical wing and were carried into the bay where they helped the wounded onto the beds. Stopping at the desk near the entrance he asked the young orderly sitting there, "Where can I find Admiral Grays?"

"Out the door and down the hall to the right. Look for the two marines guarding the door," the orderly replied as he stood with a clipboard in his hand.

"Thanks," Andrew replied and left the ward. Going to his right he walked down the hall where the two marines were and said, "Lieutenant-Commander Andrew Hathaway reporting as ordered."

"Go right in Commander, the Admiral is waiting for you," the marine on the right replied.

"Thank you," Andrew replied as he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Take a seat commander and tell me what's going on? Oh this is Lieutenant Juliet Grays my granddaughter and my aide."

"Thank you, Sir. Ma'am," Andrew replied as he sat down and then said, "Well, Sir. Most of the fleet that escaped with us is still with us. We're currently hiding in a small system near an asteroid belt. I have released the mining ships to mine the asteroids for supplies but told them not to use their full resources. I have stationed Raptors along the belt to extend our Dradis coverage and have the fleet sitting at code blue with minimum power output. All ships are keeping their FTL drives warmed up.

"As to the fleet, I'm sorry to say that the _Zeus_ is a total loss. We're currently salvaging what we can from her. The _Midgard _took heavy damage to one of her bays and her forward ventral weapons but is currently under repair. The _Horn_ took damage to her landing bay and her portside weapons. We're next in the repair queue when the _Midgard _is released. Then it will be the Gunstars _Zephyr_ and _Morrison_ turn to be repaired.

"The civilian fleet is holding up, but several of the cargo ships need some repair time due to their age. Commander Blackthorn reports that he can repair the Assaultstar _Beachhead,_ but it will take some time to rebuild her engines so he is having the tug Ocean continuing the tow. Her crew is doing the interior work, and Colonel Bishop has assigned a squad to every ship. She still has thirty-two hundred still aboard. They have finished burying their dead and Mary reports that she lost twenty-seven hundred of her marines in the attack along with three hundred and thirty crew of the _Beachhead._

"One of Commander Blackthorn pilots says the civilian ships in his main bays will be up and running soon and we'll soon have a minimum manufacturing capacity…"

"Commander, what happened to Commander Hastings of the _Midgard?"_

"Sir, he was killed when the _Midgard_ was hit by the nukes. He hit his head against one of the stations and never woke up," Andrew replied.

"Then that makes you senior of all the fleet assets. So at this time I'm promoting you to the rank of Rear Admiral and giving you command."

"Sir, its your fleet," Andrew stated.

"I'm not going to make it. The doc says he's surprised I've lasted this long. Now listen and be quiet. I need you to go to the _Zeus_ and enter my cabin. Inside my wall safe you'll find several books. Look for the book titled Caprica, a home to live for. In my desk drawer you will find a small scanner. Scan the books plu code into the scanner and then plug it into your secure computer aboard the _Horn._ Enter the code, Lima-Ocean-November-Greta-Silo-Hope-Ocean-Titan and follow the orders that will be unlocked from the scanner," Howard started coughing and he wiped his mouth with the cloth he was clutching in his left hand.

Andrew saw the blood on the cloth and asked, "Sir, let me get the doctor."

"No need, I'm dying and nothing can help. Now get going and protect the fleet and take care of Juliet for me," Howard ordered as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Before Andrew could reach the call phone, he noticed that the

"Grandpa?" Juliet said as she reached over and touched his neck and then the tears started running down her face.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Andrew said softly.

"Thank you Admiral," Juliet replied as she wiped her eyes and then said, "Let's get you to the _Zeus,"_ as they walked to the door.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Nine months after the attack;**

**Point Echo;**

**Battlestar _Titan;_**

Admiral Moiré Hays stood at the Dradis station watching as the ships appeared. First were the remaining combat ready _Titans._ The _Coeus, Cronus, Crius, Eos, Helios _and finally the _Selene _appeared in a stacked formation. They were quickly followed by ten _Thor_ class Warstars, thirty various Gunstars, twenty _Circe_ Patrolstars, and fifteen _Pandarus_ light Strikestars. The massive fleet formed up into its attack wing as the second group of ships arrived centered on five _Jupiter_ class Battlestars twenty Gunstars, ten _Circe_ Patrolstars, fourteen Assaultstars with six of them full of Marines along with thirty of the _Octopus_ tugs. Each of the ships in the second fleet had tripled the normal load out of shuttles, Raptors, and Heavy lifters. Then the third fleet arrived to protect the recovery ships along with the ships assigned to protect Point Echo.

Picking up the handset, Moiré ordered, "Get me the _Jupiter."_

"Ma'am, Admiral Torrez is calling you," the com officer said.

With a smirk, Moiré held the handset to her mouth and said, "Mathew how is the fleet handling?"

"Rescue fleet one is handling fine. We're ready to jump in twenty minutes after you jump in. Are you sure you still want to do this?"

"We have to try. If what our infiltrators have reported to be true then we have to. It's the compassionate thing to do," Moiré stated as she remembered the briefing from the week before.

.

_Flashback_

_Moiré was in her office when Commander Torrez brought a young lieutenant in to her office._

"_What's the matter Mathew?"_

"_Ma'am, Lieutenant Bliss has something to report to you. She just returned from Caprica in her stealth raptor."_

"_Really? What do you have to report Lieutenant?" Moiré asked as she looked at the young woman._

"_Ma'am, it's horrible. I made contact with some survivors on Caprica. The Cylons have been rounding up young woman and experimenting on them. They are trying to breed them to make a superior skin job version of themselves that they can use as a new template for their abomination. They have these medical facilities scattered all over the planet or that's what I was told. Anyone who fights them is murdered and the survivors are forced to watch. They captured a lot of females outside of Caprica City near the medical training facility."_

_Moiré felt the blood run from her face at what the woman was telling her. She then said, "Thank you, Lieutenant you may go, and please don't talk about what you saw or heard. Commander, please stay."_

_Mathew took the seat across from his boss and sat down, "What did you want to discuss?"_

_Moiré opened her desk drawer and pulled out a small box before answering, "First of all this," she said as she tossed the box to her friend, and then continued, "As of this day do to your heroism, steadfast loyalty and tenacious of duty it's my honor to promote you to the rank of Rear Admiral. Congratulations Admiral Torrez."_

_Mathew opened the small box and looked at the stars in the box, "Thank you, Admiral. I won't fail you."_

"_I know you won't. I'm also giving you command of the Jupiter and all her sister ships. You will form fleet two with them. I want you to form your own staff and here is a plan I have been working. _

"_The plan calls for me to lead and all out attack on the colonies with all seven of the Titans with a powerful escort. Originally I planned for your fleet to hit a different planet but now you will come in behind us and start rescue operations on the planets. We will rescue as many of the survivors as we can. We will attack Caprica first, followed by the rest of the planets in the Helios system. After that, we jump to Helios A and Picon with Virgon the last planet. Stealthstars have spotted nineteen wrecked Battlestars floating in space around the battlefield along with sixteen support ships. We will recover them and rebuild them or strip them of supplies and materials. If we can then we'll move to Helios B and check those planets. When we attack Virgon, fleet three which will consist of all the Hephasetus and Ranger class repair ships will jump in and start snagging the wrecks. _

"_Once the military ships are gone, the remaining tugs will latch onto any remaining civilian ships that are floating around and jump them away. Even if they cannot be repaired, they can be stripped for parts and supplies. At the same time as the attack is going on, three hundred Raptors, and a hundred Heavy lifters will start hopping around the colonies grabbing any crippled civilian ship they can find and jumping them back to Veil base. If the attack goes like I think it will, I expect the Cylons to send their ships to attack us at Caprica. That is when the last five Octopus tugs will jump to Caprica Refinery and grab her while two of the Assaultstars jump in and take her back from the Cylons. We're not sure how many Cylon Centurions are onboard the refinery, but we need that station. It had before the attack fifty million gallons of Tylium onboard, enough to refuel what was the entire Colonial fleet several times over. The good news is it would take a heavy KEW round to puncture one of the tanks on the station so unless they have planted nuclear warheads on the station, there shouldn't be a problem of them destroying the station."_

"_I will get with personal and start forming my staff. I suggest you promote Major Henderson to my old rank and give him my job. He knows it like the back of his hand."_

"_Very well, make sure he knows what I expect," Moiré replied as she handed Mathew a thick folder and added, "Here is the list of the ships I want to use. You're dismissed."_

_Moiré watched as her friend left and then went back to what she was doing._

_._

_End flashback_

_._

"Is the fleet ready?" Moiré asked as she looked around the bridge.

"Ready and able," Commander Rick Wilson replied.

"Then jump the fleet to Caprica and may the Lords of Kobol protect us in our duty," Moiré said.

Eighty-two warships vanished in a blinding white light as their FTL engines jumped the fleet. They reappeared sixty seconds near Caprica.

"Launch all Vipers and get me a fleet status report?" Moiré ordered as the Dradis board cleared up. On the main viewer, a badly damaged planet appeared.

"Vipers launching from all ships all tubes… incoming Raiders enemy capital ships moving away from Caprica. I count nine Cylon Baseships, five destroyers and twelve of their Supportstars closing with us. They're launching missiles."

"Turn us towards the enemy, all main batteries to commence fire with…"

"Ma'am, we will miss them," Rick replied.

Moiré looked at the Commander of the _Titan_ and replied, "Let me finish. All guns are to load flak round loaded with proximity fuses. Let's thin out those Raiders..."

"Heavy Raiders appearing to port, they're opening fire. Portside anti-aircraft batteries have opened fire."

_Titan_ shuddered as her main batteries opened up at once and twenty-four heavy KEW rounds flew through space. Fifteen seconds later they fired again, and then again. Around the flagship what looked like a solid wall of explosions erupted as thousands of defensives weapons took the incoming missiles and Raiders under fire.

"Send a message to all _Titans_ switch to armor piercing rounds and start targeting the enemy Baseships. We need to destroy them before fleet two jumps in," Moiré ordered as three Baseships jumped in to starboard and were quickly fired upon by eighty plus warships.

"Patrolstar _Dagger_ has been hit. Her engine room took a direct hit by a nuke; they have a major fire near the Tylium tanks. Captain Gills is abandoning ship."

"Warstar Pan has been hit by five anti-ship missiles. She has minor damage to her portside with two heavy KEWs out of commission."

"We just lost the Gunstars Delphi and Tanais from nuclear missiles. No survivors."

Moiré tried to listen to the reports as they came in but it was impossible.

"Baseships to starboard have been destroyed. Four advancing Baseships destroyed along with all five destroyers."

"Ma'am, the _Crius_ just took a dozen nukes to her bow and at least one hit her CIC. She's drifting and ablaze all weapons are down."

"Frak. Have all undamaged _Titans_ pull ahead of her and cover her. Have Gunstars _Glaive, War Shield, Hammer_, and _Thisbe_ to dock with the _Crius_ and render aid. Intensify the flak battery we cannot allow anymore enemy missiles to get through. There are twelve thousand people onboard that ship that we cannot afford to lose let alone the ship," Moiré ordered.

On the main monitor it showed the enemy fleet under heavy bombardment from the Colonial fleet units. Several of the ships were showing heavy damage as they started jumping away. _Titan_ shuddered as a flash turned the monitor dark as Morie flew backwards.

"Damage report," Moiré asked as she climbed to her feet. Looking around she saw smoke drifting up from one of the communications stations and several other sparking.

"We took a direct hit to the bow. Heavy KEW turrets two and three have stopped firing. Compartments open to space. Repair and medical crews in route. Point defense weapons have been compromised."

"How heavy was that nuke," Commander Wilson asked as he pressed a handkerchief to his scalp which turned red.

"Estimated yield was fifty megatons."

"We have ninety dead and three hundred and forty wounded so far," came the report from the DC station.

"Enemy Raiders have been destroyed. Remaining Cylon attack fleet is jumping away."

"Medical to the CIC, we have wounded," Moiré ordered as she looked back at the Dradis board and then said, "Get me the butcher bill and dispatch SAR craft."

"Dradis contact!"

"IFF?" Moiré asked.

"Its second fleet," came the report.

"Begin operations. Launch all Raptors and have the Vipers begin ground attacks on Cylon forces."

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Please leave a comment, it only takes a second.**

.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	17. Chapter 15

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**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Fifteen**

.

.

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

.

.

**.**

**.**

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**1*1*1**

**.**

**Nine months after the attack;**

**Point Echo;**

**Battlestar _Titan;_**

Admiral Moiré watched the main monitors as it showed the Raptors, shuttles and Heavy lifters leaving the launch bays. "  
"Commander Wilson, what's the status of the _Crius?"_

"Coming in now. Heavy damage to her bow weapons, she took two missiles to her portside landing bay. A dozen compartments open to space and her CIC is destroyed. Two hundred and thirty dead, five hundred and fifty wounded so far. The bow is completely crumpled and Chief Engineer Robert Bark suggests they head for the Veil right away," Commander Wilson reported.

"Very well have the Crius spool up their FTL drives for an emergency jump. Pick out two Gunstars to go with her as escorts. COM, notify all ships in the attack fleet to form up and cover the recovery ships."

"Vipers have engaged Cylon ground forces around Caprica City. They're pulling back into the ruins.

"Marines are assaulting Cylon ground forces at Caprica General hospital and Delphi General Hospital."

"No targets on Dradis."

"Raptors are checking the mining facilities on Artemis and Aphrodite. They report nine ore haulers on Artemis and six on Aphrodite. Marines are boarding the ships now to check on their conditions. Both spaceports have been smashed and one of the mine entrances on Artemis has collapsed."

"Have the civilian crews stand by. If the ships are flyable, I want them out of here," Moiré ordered and then added, "See about loading them up too."

"Yes, Ma'am…"

"Dradis contact. Twelve miles off our starboard bow. It's a Cylon Baseship."

"Open fire, all guns!" Moiré snapped out as the monitor changed to show the ship. She watched as it literally belched Raiders out of its landing bays as missiles burst from their launchers.

One of the closer Gunships blew apart as sixteen nuclear missiles slammed into the lightly armored ship. Hundreds of more missiles flew though the debris field. One hit a chunk of the Gunship and detonated, taking dozens of missiles with it. The fleets light KEWs opened up and tried to stop the missiles as the heavy KEWs started firing on the enemy Baseship. Most were destroyed but a few slipped through the web of flack hitting the ships. One of the Warstars took a direct hit to her engines and came to a stop while another slammed into the _Titan's_ starboard flight pod. The missiles could have gone right into the bay, but instead hit the sloping armor that formed a ridge over the bay. The explosion lit up the side of the huge ship, destroying the point defense batteries along with one of the medium KEW turrets. Explosions rocked out of the ships, two more Gunstars were damaged before the Baseship jumped away taking with it the surviving Raiders.

"Get me a damage report," Moiré ordered as she climbed back to her feet.

"Working on it now."

"Starboard flight pod medium KEWs fourteen and fifteen destroyed along with twenty point defense batteries. No damage to the interior of the upper landing bay."

"Warstar _Vasiliki_ is dead in space. Her engine room took a direct hit. Gunstars _Rolla_ and _Grime_ have light damage," came the reports.

"We have Vipers down. We lost nineteen Vipers in the attack. Dispatching SAR Raptors to six beacons," the CAG reported.

"Very well. Dispatch stealthstars to check Aerilon, Gemenon and Leonis for Cylon forces. We will continue the attack in that order," Moiré ordered as she listened to the reports coming in.

"Ma'am, Raptors and Shuttles have landed at the locations of the Cylon camps. Marines are moving in now."

"Vipers have total air superiority over Caprica City and Delphi."

"_Crius_ has jumped away."

"Ma'am, survivors from the camps are being loaded aboard the shuttles. It's not looking good for them they are finding more bodies then survivors."

Closing her eyes for a second, Moiré sent a prayer out to the survivors and the lost ones, "Very well. Tell the marines. No quarter to the skin jobs."

"Ma'am, Colonel Hewer of the _Justicia_ reports they have found a group of survivors in the Caprica Mountains. Estimated count is twenty-seven hundred. He's requesting more shuttles to EVAC them to the _Justicia."_

"Notify the _Justicia_ to land near their position and load up the survivors," Moiré ordered.

"Ma'am, several scout units have found five hundred head of cattle and other livestock up near Delphi. They are requesting the _Aragon_ be dispatched to load them up for transport to the livestock ships," came another report.

"Send her in. Get as much as the livestock loaded as they can. We can use whatever they can recover. Have several of the other scout teams check the distribution centers that we have on record. Load what we can and lets get the hell out of here," Moiré ordered.

On the main viewer, one of the ships changed heading and started entering the atmosphere of the devastated planet. It was escorted by a full squadron of Vipers and Raptors as its nose tipped downward and it plunged through the heavy cloud cover.

"_Justicia_ is on approach to the Caprica Mountains. She'll be landing in twenty minutes. Raptors and shuttles are ferrying the survivors up to the rescue fleet. Marines have broken into all of the known camps. Estimated survivor count is less than a thousand survivors."

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Stealthship 6;**

**Aerilon Orbit;**

**Captain Susan Brunner;**

Susan watched as three Heavy Raiders flew up to the central of the three Baseships that were in orbit of the planet. Susan checked her tiny Dradis screen and then looked around the wreckage of the Aerilon space station. The debris field covered a huge area of space. Intermingled with the ruins of the station were the wrecks of civilian ships caught in the attack along with the shattered hulks of three Mercury Battlestars, six Gunstars and three _Hephasetus_ repair ships that failed to escape the attack. Being the second planet to be attacked but the closes to the where they jumped in there just wasn't time for the repair ships to escape.

Looking at her former home on the monitor, Susan felt the tears run down her face as she looked at the blackened planet that had been the food basket of twelve worlds. Wiping her eyes, she looked out the main window, and could see the Cylon Baseships circling her home. She so wanted to arm the nuclear missiles inside her ships internal missile bay but she didn't instead she powered up her FTL drive and jumped back to Caprica to report in.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Stealthship 5;**

**Gemenon Orbit;**

**Captain William White;**

William tapped the thrusters and nosed his craft through the debris field heading towards Gemenon so he could check out the planet and see what type of Cylon craft were in orbit of the former religious planet. He spotted two Baseships and four destroyers in orbit of the planet. Activating the camera she zoomed into the planet and he wanted to cry out at the ruins of the city of Oranu. Her once mighty temples were flattened, her skyscrapers were twisted ruins and she could see thousands of centurions moving though the city killing any survivors that they found.

The Dradis started beeping and William looked at the screen. It showed four targets approaching his location. Looking around, he spotted a large piece of debris that he could hide behind. Using his thrusters he tapped them and felt the craft change course. A few more taps he on the thruster board brought the ship up and into a section of the ship yard that could hide his craft. He watched as the four Cylon Raiders flew pass his hiding spot and towards the devastated planet

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Stealthship 4;**

**Leonis Orbit;**

**Captain Vince Halley;**

The small black craft drifted towards the once blue and green world. Around it, the remains of several small space stations plummeted to the planet below while circling the planet; nine large craft rained non-nuclear death down on the planet. Two were Baseships, the remaining seven were Supportstars. The Supportstars were deploying their troops to the planet to kill the survivors that were trying to force the mechanical army to leave.

"What do we have here?" Vince said to himself as he focused the ships camera on the capital.

As he watched, fifty missiles lifted off from the surface and headed for one of the orbiting Baseships that went from lazily tossing missiles to a full missile barrage at the incoming wave. Down on the surface at the Leonis ground space port, twelve ships fired their engines and lifted off from the planet. Another ten ships were starting their engines as missiles started landing around the port.

Picking up his handset, Vince started surfing the channels until he found one with chatter.

"Bravo six, ten missiles inbound to your section."

"See them General, launching counter missiles now. We won't be able to hold out for long. Getting short on air to air missiles," came the reply.

"I'm dispatching fifty more to your location. And have moved the ninth Raptor squadron to your sector for air to air suppression fire. It's all I can do."

"Appreciate it General, did the ships get off?"

"They are lifting off now. God goes with them if they can escape," the general said.

Vince made his decision and toggled the handset, "This is Recon four to the General in charge of Leonis spaceport. Please respond."

"Who is this? Identify yourself," the general ordered.

"Sir, this is Captain Vince Halley of the Battlestar _Titan._ Land your ships. I will be back with help ASAP," Vince replied as he started powering up his FTL drive.

"You have thirty minutes. After that, I'm ordering all the ships to jump away from Leonis," the General replied.

"I'll be back, hold on," Vince said as he turned the key for the FTL drive and jumped away just as a dozen missiles slammed into his hiding place.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Baseship 72;**

**Picon Orbit;**

Anthony Cavil was furious. He was losing Baseships left and right because of those _Titans._ He needed to destroy them but was out of ideas. Their massive firepower would take dozens of Baseships to destroy each one of them and he knew there were ten of them at the Veil or were at one time. Sitting in his chair, he looked at the image on the monitor of one of the _Titan_ class battlestars. He knew the most dangerous part was the head with its massive offensive weapons which must be avoided but how to do that.

Tapping his fingers on the armrest of his chair he thought of plans and then discarded them. Finally an idea came to him and he smiled, as he looked up at the data stream coming in from the fleet. Sticking his hand in the stream he sent out his ordered to several support ships to join him along with ten of the remaining Baseships.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Caprica Orbit;**

**Battlestar _Titan;_**

"Ma'am, Stealthship's one through six have returned and are landing on the starboard pod," came the report from the COM station.

"Get me their reports as soon as you can," Moiré ordered as she watched the images of her homeworld flash across the monitors.

Everywhere she looked she saw death and destruction. On the outskirts of Caprica, the marines had found massive mass graves. Scanners estimated each held over five hundred thousand dead. Caprica once had a population of five billion souls, and less than five hundred thousand were left alive. In all one point nine million survivors were hiding in the Veil and they were bringing more in right now. The ships were overcrowded and disease was a slight problem, but was being handled by the medical staff. At least they had plenty to eat, especially with the recovery of the hidden depots and Ragnor station which was under modifications to make her FTL capable.

Moiré turned to her notebook and started writing things down that she needed to have taken care of. Like the forming of a limited civilian government and the hunting down of Admiral Cain for the murders she had committed. Other notes were to increase production of Viper MKVIII's to replace the current fleet fighters. With their FTL ability, it would be helpful to have several squadrons of them ready before they left.

"Ma'am, you have to see this," Commander Rick Wilson stated.

Moiré walked over and looked at the images she was seeing as Rick handed her a headset. She listened to the report of survivors on Leonis. After it was finished she handed the headset, she said, "Rick, contact all ships. Tell them our next target is Leonis and that it's a critical one mission with heavy civilian count."

"Yes, Ma'am," Rick replied as he stepped over to the COM station and gave the orders to the three communications officers.

The ships started forming up into their attack wings. The remaining six Titans formed up into two attack wings with three of the massive ships in each. They were escorted by eight Warstars, twenty-four various Gunstars, eighteen _Circe_ Patrolstars, and fourteen _Pandarus_ light Strikestars. The support ships were in a globe formation around the three _Titans_. Behind them, the rescue fleet continued to recover their support ships while one of the _Leviathans _jumped away with the damaged Warstar that had lost her engines. She jumped away with a second Warstar as an escort along with two Patrolstars.

Moiré watched the monitor as the _Harrier_ class Assaultstars _Justicia_ lifted off from the planet as she walked to her command chair.

"Notify the rescue fleet to jump in twenty minutes," Moiré ordered as she sat down in her command chair and said, "As soon as the _Justicia_ is out of the atmosphere have the survivors transferred to her and she's to jump back to the veil. The rest of the rescue fleet is to continue to check for survivors. All Vipers and Raptors belonging to the attack fleet are to land ASAP. Attack fleet is to close up ranks and I want all of the ships to prepare to jump to target two. This will be a hot mission," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," came the replies from around the bridge.

"Notify all attack crafty to jump the fleet to Leonis," she ordered.

The flash of seventy FTL drives lit up space as the attack fleet vanished into space to appear near the devastated planet of Leonis. Before the ships could stabilize their Dradis stations, hundreds of missiles were inbound from the nine Cylon ships that were pulling away from the planet. Their landing bays were spitting out hundreds of Raiders and Heavy Raiders as they started falling back away from the massive armada of warships.

Moiré watched the monitors show the two Baseships and seven Supportstars falling away from her fleet. With a feral grin, she ordered, "Advance on the enemy and destroy them."

"We're advancing, they are falling back trying to keep the range open," Rick reported.

"Incoming Raiders, fourteen hundred and counting," came the report.

"All ships launching Vipers," the CAG reported.

"Send a message to all the _Titans_. Open fire with your bow cannons," Moiré ordered over the other reports.

"They're out of range," Rick replied.

"Rick, you know as well as that what is in motion stays in motion in space. Set the timers on the scuttling charges for the rounds for five minutes. If they've haven't hit by then, they won't. This way if they keep falling back they may still get hit," Moiré ordered.

Turning, Rick looked at the COM and WEPS station and said, "You heard the Admiral. Open fire on the enemy Baseships, five minute delay on the scuttling charge."

The WEPS officers started sending the orders through their headsets as their fingers flew across the keyboards while the COM officers send the orders to the flanking Battlestars. They started targeting the first Baseship when the Battlestar _Cronus_ opened fire. The bow of the _Cronus_ lit up as all twenty-four heavy cannons fired at once. She was quickly followed by the other five _Titans._

Moiré watched as the rounds ripped through the incoming raiders and several were destroyed when the high velocity rounds smashed into the enemy fighter craft. "All ships open fire on those Raiders. Don't let them get within attack range."

_Titan _shuddered as all her forward weapons opened fire. Most of the cannon rounds were at the incoming swarms of Raiders whipping out whole squadrons while the main guns targeted the enemy Baseships. Two of the Supportstars had been hit, along with one of the Baseships. Before Moiré could order their destruction, all nine ships vanished into FTL along with the surviving Raiders.

"Damn it. We need to find away to keep them from jumping," Moiré ordered as she looked at the monitor, which showed the planet and her destroyed space stations along with dozens of drifting wrecks, "Let's take up position over the planet. Have our Raptors check out those wrecks. If we can recover them we will. Get me in contact with the survivors."

The crew jumped to their orders not knowing what was coming their way.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Please leave a comment, it only takes a second.**

.

_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	18. Chapter 16

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**.**

**.**

**.**

**Depot Veil**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Sixteen**

.

.

**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

**.**

**Until Now.**

.

.

**.**

**.**

**Leonis Orbit;**

**Battlestar _Titan;_**

"Get me in contact with whoever is in command down there," Moiré ordered as she turned back to the Dradis station.

"I have them on line three. It's General Mark Ashton of the Colonial Army," the COM officer replied.

Moiré grabbed the handset and said, "General Ashton, this is Fleet Admiral Moiré Hays how are you doing down there?"

"Thank the Gods you're here Admiral. I could say conditions could be better. We're surrounded in a pocket at the Leonis ground spaceport. I have ten thousand troops well dug in, and two hundred and ten thousand civilians. We have ten Raptors, and twenty-three ships that have some type of lift capacity. We need evacuation badly, we're almost out of ground to air missiles," Ashton replied.

"Help's on the way. Have your civilians form up into groups of twenty thousand for evacuation. I am dispatching our new _Lightning_ class bombers to clear the area around you so our Assaultstars can land. Have all your civilian craft lift off after we suppress the Cylons attacking your position."

"Ma'am, Warstar _Pickaxe_ is tracking a column of Cylons infantry and tanks advancing onto the spaceport. They report they can open fire on them in three minutes," the COM officer reported.

"Tell them I want them blown to bits. Send a raptor back to Caprica and tell them I need eleven of the _Harrier_ class Assaultstars here ASAP for immediate evacuation of survivors from Leonis.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Edge of Leonis City;**

**Front lines;**

Major John Edenton looked through his binoculars at the advancing Cylons and sent a silent prayer for help. He had one hundred and fifty troops covering a mile perimeter to stop five hundred Cylon infantry and twenty tanks entered Memorial Square from the first war. To his right was his new NCO for the platoon. He couldn't believe the size of the man. Standing six foot ten inches tall and weighing in at three hundred and twenty pounds of muscle, the man looked like he could bench press a tank. His personal weapon was a single barrel Calypso heavy machine gun that he used like a rifle at target practice.

"Sir, we're spread way to thin. When they attack us, they're going to blow right through us and I pray to the gods that the troops know to fall back to line two when it gets to dicey to hold their current position," Sergeant Howard Smith said as he chewed on a cigar he had liberated from the smoke shop in the lobby.

"I know Sarge and that's what I'm afraid will happen. We cannot afford to lose any more troops then we can help it. Did those civilians that made their way here get on the transport trucks? What about the last of the anti-armor mines?" John asked as his only tank fired on the incoming Cylons and then went to rapid fire on both barrels.

Explosions blossomed out of two of the enemy tanks and then another blew up as it took a double hit to its Chobham front armor. The remaining seventeen tanks turned and fired before the Colonial tank could fire again. Explosions tore the front of the hotel apart as the Cylon forces advanced on the building.

Inside the hotel, the tank was already moving before the Cylons could fire and was out the back of the hotel and heading for its next firing position one hundred meters to the north of its last location.

"All the trucks got away along with ten tons of food supplies from the food warehouse just up the street. The mines are laid out and ready to detonate as soon as you say so," Howard replied as he picked up the phone beside him and said, "Mortars one through five, you can fire now."

The whistling of mortar rounds going overhead and landing in front of the advancing Centurions filled the air with shrapnel spinning through the air. Strips of metal as dense as the armor used on Battlestars ripped the Cylon Centurions apart as they advanced but only a few went down destroyed. One round bounced off a Cylon tank and detonated in between three Cylon robots, tearing them apart in the explosion.

John was about to order his battle hardened troops to open fire when heavy machinegun fire erupted from a side street. He watched in stunned surprise as ten civilian all terrain vehicles roaring down the side streets and up behind the tanks. Mounted to the bed of the trucks was duel mounted Calypso heavy machine gun firing the deadly seventy-five caliber rounds at the Cylon troops that were attacking the Colonial positions. The heavy bullets caught the advancing Centurions in the back, ripping them apart as the trucks weaved across the battlefield. Bottles filled with liquid Tylium were tossed out of the vehicles to shatter on the tanks as they raced by them. Two of the tanks blew up as the burning Tylium melted the armor over the engine rooms of the vehicles and set off the stored Tylium.

If the Cylons were surprised they were over the shock in a flash as the Centurions turned and started firing at the civilians who were attacking them. Two of the trucks blew up as their fuel tanks were hit and a third had all four wheels shredded and came to a stop as its radiator was punctured. The occupants bailed out of the damaged truck and took cover with their rifles as the Cylons encircled the vehicle and slaughtered the survivors. The rest of the trucks took some damage before they raced out of sight leaving their dead behind them.

"Idiots," Howard stated as looked at the burning trucks, "Brave but idiots. They didn't even armor the trucks," he said.

"I agree," John replied as he picked up the phone and said, "All troops open fire and have the artillery fire ten high explosive rounds and then bug out back to the base. Find out who those idiots are in the trucks and give them a bottle each of whiskey. We may just hold them."

The Cylons who were checking the wreckage of the truck for survivors were ripped apart as ten heavy Calypso machineguns opened up along with sixty armed troops. In seconds a hundred Cylons went down as the machineguns mounted on the fourth floor raked their positions. Missiles flew down from the top of the building and three tanks blew up as the armor piercing warheads punched right through the thick armor of the tanks.

Large explosions ripped the center of the square apart as ten heavy artillery rounds landed in the perimeter. Guided there by laser, each round landed on its designated target and the explosives buried under the ground exploded. What was once a two kilometer wide park blew up as ten tons of explosives ripped the far part of the square apart and the two fourteen story skyscrapers twisted and plummeted towards the square. The two buildings landed on top of the advancing Cylon Centurions and nine of the advancing tanks.

"What the frak?" Sergeant Howard Smith gasped out.

"Sorry, couldn't tell you since you were new to the unit. It was an operation secret. To many of our traps were getting out to the Cylons and we kept it a secret with very few people knowing about it," Major John Edenton replied as he picked up the phone and said, "All troops fall back to position two. Start the countdown on Revenge One."

"Revenge one?" Howard asked as he picked up his rifle and rucksack.

"You will see," John replied as he looked out the window once more and then staggered back as a bullet hit him in the shoulder.

Howard watched as his boss was hit and flung across the room. Rushing to him, he slapped an emergency bandage on the entrance and exit hole of the wound. "This is going to hurt you more than me," he said as he lifted the man up and onto his shoulder. Grapping the two rucksacks, his bosses rifle and his machine gun, he was down the stairs and out the back door as three Cylons came through the shattered front window.

Howard joined the men falling back to the next defensive lines when Vipers and Raptors shot through the sky over the ruined city blasting away at the advancing tanks. Then a new craft came in, shaped like an arrow with a pair of duel tail fins. It was painted black and about forty-five feet long. It had a half dozen bombs attached to its undercarriage that it released at once.

"Oh frak, hit the dirt you grunts," Howard shouted out and the men and woman around him ducked down behind anything that could protect them.

Howard saw a pair of the bombs penetrate the hotel they had been using as a command post, but the remaining bombs went over the building. Explosions ripped Remembrance Plaza apart and the remaining three skyscrapers and the hotel crumbled under six five thousand pound bombs going off at once. All around the city, mushroom clouds were rising up from where twenty _Lightning_ class bombers clawed their way back up into space to rearm for the next mission.

Howard picked up his CO as several of the squad grabbed his gear and the humped it back to the aid station where he laid the man on a stretcher. One of the orderlies came over and started treating the wound.

"Sir, I can't do much but stabilize you and send you back to the hospital," the orderly said.

"Do what you can. Howard, keep the men together and watch out for each other. Keep falling back to the red line and dig in. Don't let the toasters overrun your position," John ordered as he was lifted up off the ground by two marines.

"Sir, I won't, and take this," Howard said as he tucked a package of cigars inside his pocket and a bottle of Leonis Whiskey, "I'll see you later, Sir."

"Listen up, were bugging out, the toasters are advancing this way. Pack what you can and get it aboard the trucks," a woman in scrubs shouted out as she came into the tent.

Men and woman started grabbing containers and tossing medical supplies in them and carrying them out to the trucks while marines came in and picked up the wounded on stretchers and carried them to the ambulances and vans that had been commandeered by the medical staff. Within ten minutes, the only thing left was the tents and a dozen marines setting charges at the access road to take out more of the toasters while twenty more covered them.

Howard watched as the last charge was set and the marines started filtering back to the last defense line when the first of the toasters appeared and opened fire. Whipping his gun around, he let loose on the enemy and saw his rounds rip through the ever increasing enemy. Marines around him started firing as the Cylons advanced across the parking lot they were retreating through.

Several marines were cut down as the men and woman fell back from the advancing toasters. Howard saw two more marines get cut down before he could yell to them to watch out. Holding the bucking machinegun in one hand, he yanked a grenade off his harness and tossed it towards the enemy. White smoke started covering the ground and several more grenades landed adding to the smoke and two rockets were launched from the marine positions. Each missile hit one of the toasters blowing them apart.

Howard turned and started yelling as he took off running, "Fall back to the next road! Now!"

The marines took off for the next road and behind them a dozen explosive charges detonated at once among the disabled cars and trucks. The men reached the next street to find three APCs waiting for them with their ramps down. The men ran up the ramps as the fired up their engines. As the ramps went up, bullets started pinging off the armor of the vehicles as the chain guns opened up, shredding the Centurions that had followed them through the infernal of burning vehicles and then the APCs turned and headed up the cleared road. The last APC continued raking the area behind them with the chain gun in case the enemy chases after them.

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**Leonis Orbit;**

**Battlestar _Titan;_**

Moiré looked up as the Dradis station started flashing and Colonial signatures appeared.

"Ma'am the rescue fleet is here…"

"Enemy contact!" shouted the WEPS officer.

The alarms started sounding as a Baseship appeared directly in front of the Battlestar _Helios._ Before anyone could react the ship slammed into the bow of the mighty Battlestar and an explosion lit up space. When the flash of light from the explosion faded away and the monitors cleared, it showed the _Helios_ was hanging in space. The front part of the mighty Battlestar was gone and plasma fires were burning towards the midsection of the ship.

"Frak me!" someone said as Moiré looked on in shock.

"They frakers rammed her," Commander Rick Wilson said as he gripped the hand rail that went around the Dradis station.

"Get me the _Helios,"_ Moiré ordered and then said, "Move a Gunstar in front of every Battlestar in the fleet. Dispatch medical shuttles to the Helios to evacuate the wounded."

"Yes, Ma'am," Rick replied as he picked up his handset and started issuing Moiré's orders.

Moiré watched the clock as they waited for a response from the Battlestar _Helios._ During this time, the requested _Harrier_ Assaultstars landed on the planet to start recovering the survivors while more Raptors and shuttles started checking the rest of the planet. Finally after ten minutes, a response was heard,

"Ma'am, I have a Lieutenant Alice Brisket on line four," reported one of the COM officers.

"Lieutenant, status report," Moiré ordered.

"Ma'am, this is Lieutenant Brisket. I have a status report for you. Currently I am in the CIC, the room is wrecked. Commander Hastings is dead and the XO has been taken to medical. We've lost everything from frames eighty-one forward from decks one through twenty. Estimated dead is around twelve hundred with more than three thousand wounded. Both flight pods are in operation but all weapons are off line. The chief engineer reports that engines one and four are offline as is environmental and all elevators. Power is fluctuating throughout the ship, but the energies are at full power. FTL is online; do you want me to jump the ship back to base?" she asked.

"Yes, jump her back and if you need to, use the tugs to tow you in," Moiré ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Alice replied.

Moiré hung the handset up just as another flash of light lit up the monitors.

"Gunstar Hussar destroyed. A Cylon Baseship appeared right where she was positioned," Rick reported.

Moiré snagged the handset and hit the fleet wide, "All ships shift position positive two hundred Azimuth and three hundred meters to port. They are suiciding ships into the Battlestars," Moiré ordered and then added, "All ships all commands, your ventral guns are cleared to fire without permission on any Cylon ship that appears. We will be victorious and recover all the survivors on Leonis. So say we all."

Throughout the fleet, the ships shifted position and a few minutes later two more Cylon Baseships from the first war appeared and were quickly destroyed by the Battlestars. Moiré was looking at the images of one of the Baseships and she realized that everyone of the ships that had jumped in, had heavy damage to them.

"Rick, those first war Baseships they are throwing at us are all heavily damaged," Moiré stated as she pointed out the damage to the hull on the image she was looking at before the _Titan_ blew her apart.

"Sneaky, I bet they are saving their newer ships to throw at us when the take out a few more of the _Titans._ Admiral, I think we shout order all the civilian ships to jump while we have time," Rick replied.

"Have all civilian craft carrying survivors to jump to the Veil. I want the freighters and cargo ships prepared to land and strip the city and port of anything we can use. Get me a status report on the _Harriers._ I want them off the ground ASAP," Moiré ordered as the _Titan_ opened fire again and then shuddered as she was hit.

"Admiral, ventral guns have destroyed a Cylon Destroyer that jumped in. Light damage to bow. Bow gun four is out of commission. Repair teams in rout," reported the WEPS officer.

"Continue as planned. Keep shifting our positions in a random direction," Moiré ordered as she noticed several _Harriers _breaking orbit along with sixteen civilian ships.

On the surface of Leonis, the Cylons were pulling back from the battle. The overwhelming air supremacy of the Vipers, Raptors and Lightning bombers had smashed all four divisions of ground troops advancing on the human positions. With the Cylons in full retreat, dozens of civilian freighters and cargo ships landed at the spaceport to pick up the supplies gathered by the Marines. Whole platoons were sent into Luminere city to loot bookstores, music shops, warehouses, grocery stores, and the malls of everything that could be used. Two assault shuttles and one freighter even landed at Leonis Estates Sparkling Winery to empty the warehouses there. Three quarters of the Leonis Wildcats and the Hedon Suns are rescue from the planet and they quickly evacuated back to the Veil where they can start reforming their teams so Pyramid games can be held to help rebuild moral in the civilian population.

Two hours and twenty-one attack, Morie watched as the last ship left the planet and rejoined the fleet. They had lost six Gunstars and two Firestars in the attack but had rescued three hundred thousand people including twenty-two thousand marines and colonial Army and thirty-seven hundred Colonial personal for the fleet.

"Rick, notify all ships to prepare to jump for the Veil," Moiré stated with a heavy heart.

"What about the rest of the colonies?" Rick asked.

"Rick, we lost eight ships rescuing the people on Leonis and damage to _Titan,_ and _Virgon._ The _Helios_ may never be restored. If I had the battlestars, I would stay, but I cannot sacrifice the effective fighting force of the fleet where we may save a few more hundred people," Moiré stated as she stood up and looked down on the Dradis board.

Rick stood there listing, and understanding. He really wanted to go to Scorpio to see if any of his extended family had survived, but deep in his heart he knew that the fleet came first.

"I understand Ma'am," Rick replied and picked up his handset and said, "All ships, this is the flag. Set course for home. The mission has been canceled."

In seconds, the first of the fleet started jumping away. They left a dead planet behind them and a surprise for the Cylons when they came back to pick up their army. Eight of the _Titan _class Gunstars were carrying mine pods and just before they had jumped, they had deployed a thousand mines each in the orbit of the planet. The mines would circle the planet for several months before their orbits decayed and they were pulled in. The mines were only a foot long cylinders, but each was packed with a powerful explosive that could shatter Raiders and Heavy Raiders as they left the planet's surface.

As the last ship FTL'ed out, the Cylon fleet arrived. Fourteen Baseships, nineteen destroyers and twenty-two support ships.

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**Leonis Orbit;**

**Baseship 72_;_**

Anthony Cavil looked at the Dradis station and snapped out in anger, "Where are they?"

"It looks like they have left. The sensor probe is sending its report now," the number six called Barbra Meadows said as she dipped her fingers into the data stream, "Your plan failed. Admiral Hays anticipated your move after the first attack. They lost eight support ships with damage to only three battlestars, and only one of them was critical. You have cost us twenty-one irreplaceable ships in this mad adventure. John will not be happy."

"Shut up," Anthony snapped and then ordered, "All ships are to jump back to Picon. Send a message to all ships in the Colonial systems. I am calling a group meeting of all commanders aboard this ship. We need a new plan to defeat the humans before John rejoins us."

"I will send the message, what about Baseship forty do we recall her?" Barbra asked.

"No, she is to continue to jump to the Colony. We need the hybrids to command the forty new Basestars that will be coming on line next month," Anthony replied as he walked out of the room and went to his quarters.

Barbra looked at her sister and said, "He is losing it. I suggest we keep a closer eye on him before he destroys all of us."

"I agree sister, I will tell the Centurions to keep an eye on him," the eight called Norma replied and left the command room as the ship jumped.

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**Please leave a comment, it only takes a second.**

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_**First Edited By **_

_**Final Edit By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	19. Chapter 17

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Seventeen**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**The Veil****;**

**Battlestar **_**Titan;**_

Moiré was looking at the main screen when the ship dropped out of FTL. The bright colors of the nebula's gasses lit up space for all to see.

"Dradis contact…"

"Identify," Moiré ordered.

"It's colonial, it's the Battlestar _Helios"_ came the reply.

"Put her on the screen," Moiré ordered and before she could say anything else the screen changed to show the damaged ship entering the main channel for the Veil.

"COM, get me all ships, all stations," Moiré ordered.

"You're on line one Ma'am," came the reply.

Moiré picked up the handset and pressed the number one button on the board in front of her.

"Attention all ships, all stations. This is the flagship. We have won a victory today, but it was a costly one. Several important ships have been lost or heavily damaged. We recovered a lot of supplies and rescued a lot of civilian and military personal from several planets. I want all civilian ships to form up and start entering the Veil through tunnel three, the Gunstar _Diamond_ will lead you in. After all civilian craft have entered the tunnel; they will be followed by the damaged ships of the fleet along with the Marinestars. The escort ships will follow the Marinestars while the Battlestars and Warstars will follow the damaged _Helios_ in tunnel two.

"All damaged ships will form up for repairs at the repair ships. All supplies are to be inventoried and stored in the supply depots. Ship captains, I want a full count of all survivors along with their job qualifications. All former Colonial personal are to report to Veil One for assignment. All civilian ships are to undergo a full inspection by the repair stations and repair fleet. If it needs replacement, then replace it, we cannot have something failing at a critical time. If you have children that are high school age, we have two of the _Titan_ Battlestars turned into schools for them. The _Leto_ and the _Asteria_ have been fully reconfigured for seven thousand students each. We are in the process of converting several Cloud class liners into more schools for the younger kids. These will handle elementary and middle classes. Parents, please contact your ship captain or his designated secretary to have your children registered for classes.

"Captains of all civilian ships, report your ship status, supply and fuel situation to the flagship as soon as possible so we can get you resupplied. Have all your wounded and personal needing medical attention ready to be transported to the medical fleet for evaluation and medical treatment. Once that is completed, all personal on the ships will cycle through Veil two for identification and issuing of new papers. That is all for now. Flag out," Moiré said as she released the button on the handset.

"Ma'am, I have an update report from the _Helios_ they report twelve hundred and ninety-seven dead, three thousand six hundred and forty-three wounded and one hundred and twelve missing and presumed dead. Everything from frames eighty-one to the bow is gone; they have sealed compartments from eighty-nine to eighty-one in case there is a leak. Several fires broke out in Alpha bay and they lost a third of their Vipers and Raptors. Lieutenant Brisket reports that the XO has passed away and has assumed command until a higher ranking officer can get to the CIC," Commander Rick Wilson reported.

"Thank you Rick, as soon as the last Battlestar has entered the Veil, you can take us in," Moiré ordered.

"With pleasure, Ma'am," Rick replied.

"Ma'am, we just received a message from the Veil. They report twenty-nine damaged ships recovered from the guard stations around the systems along with several tons of supplies. No survivors were found at the asteroid stations. Every hatch was blown by the computers."

Moiré sighed and looked around the bridge and she could see the weariness in their faces. Standing up, she said, "I'll be in my quarters. Commander Wilson, you have command."

Moiré left the CIC and walked towards her quarters. Behind her, two of her marines fell instep as she thought of the colonies and the billions dead. Even though they had just rescued thousands from Caprica and Leonis, she knew there were thousands more they'd left behind. Stepping into her quarters, she started pulling her uniform off as soon as the hatch had locked behind her.

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**Veil One;**

The next morning, Moiré looked at the reports sitting on her desk as she walked into her office aboard Veil Station One. She had just flown over from her command ship to handle the administrative part of her command. With a sigh, she sat down and pulled the first folder towards her. Around the veil the surviving ships huddled together as repair ships went to work on the damaged ships. Opening the folder, she saw it was an update on the Battlestar _Helios._ She was now docked with Veil Two and the giant decommission station was removing the remains of the alligator head of the giant battlestar up to frame eight-two will be removed and the rest sealed off. Commander Hanson had the idea of using the bow of the Battlestar _Andraste._ The head was five percent smaller, but it would save having to rebuild the massive head from scratch. Quickly authorizing the conversion, she placed it back in the folder and set it in the out basket as her secretary came in.

"Morning Admiral," Helen Nagala said as she placed a large cup of coffee on the desk.

"Morning Helen. How's the kids," Moiré asked as she placed two more folders in the basket and picked up the cup and took a sip.

"Their doing just fine, they're adjusting to station life quite well," Helen replied and then asked, "Admiral, you look like shit. Didn't you sleep last night?" as she picked up the folders in the out basket.

"Not really, I keep seeing the colonies and what they look like now," Moiré said as she opened the next folder and sighed as she read the proposal to reform a civilian government.

"I know, I still see Picon City being destroyed," Helen replied as she read the tap on the folder her boss had opened, and said, "I see you have the proposal from the civilians open."

"Yeah I do," Moiré stated as she continued to read the proposal.

"I think you should allow it. It would reduce the headache we have," Helen replied as she headed for the door.

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**Liner **_**Picon**__**Sunset**_**;**

Tim Brown walked into the council room aboard the _Picon_ _Sunset_. Looking around the room, he saw several of his friends from Picon talking. Walking over, he said to a heavy set man wearing a black suit, "The proposal was delivered last night."

Richard Dent half turned and looked at his former councilmen from Picon and replied, "Good. As soon as we have control, we can end this senseless war."

"I don't see how. She controls the military, and the military plus a lot of the civilians will follow her," Tim said as he took a glass of Champaign of one of the walking waiter's trays.

"Because we will put the blame of the war right on the military's doorstep where it belongs," Richard replied with an evil grin.

"I see and how will you justify it?"

"The primary reason is right here. Look at the ships here in the Veil. Ships that were supposed to be decommissioned and scrapped were fully crewed, armed and ready for the attack. That tells me the Admiralty knew the attack was coming," Richard replied as he picked up his glass and took a sip and then said, "Make sure you mention that to as many people as you can."

"You wish to sow descent among the civilians and throw doubt into their thinking. But what about the military once you do assume power," Laura Haskin from Caprica said as she sat down in an empty chair.

"We will contact the Cylons and say we will destroy all our warships if they leave us alone to live in peace."

"I don't see it working but it's worth a shot. What shall we call ourselves?" Craig Hopkins asked.

Richard looked at the former councilman from Libra and replied, "The Peace Brigade. But we will also be armed. I have had my men acquiring weapons and ammo from the crippled warships. We have enough to arm several hundred of our members."

"So you think we can take over?" Tim asked.

"Yes, the people are tired. Their tired of war and tired of living on ships. They want a planet. We'll make a deal with the Cylons. They can have eleven of the colonies and all the sub colonies if we can have just one. We'll scrap our military equipment and live in peace with them," Richard replied.

"So when will we take over?" Laura asked.

"Not sure when we'll take over. We need to get people in the right places so when the bitch takes the fleet out again; we'll be able to take over the stations and the defense satellites. That way when she comes back, we can make them stand down," Richard said as he stood up and then added, "Get with your people. Tell them to start training and applying for jobs that will get them in the door. I'll see you next week aboard the _Star_ _Runner_ for our next meeting."

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**Depot Veil;**

**20 days after return from Caprica;**

Sweat was rolling down Moiré face as she kicked the punching bag as her fists hammered the top half. Jumping back, she executed a perfect flying kick and her right foot smacked the face painted on the bag. If it had been a real opponent the target would have gone down under the punishment that she was giving it. She was working hard at her workout when the door opened. As she started to execute another flying kick, movement out of the corner of her eye had her dropping to the floor as the soft phut of a silenced pistol was heard. Hitting the floor, she rolled quickly towards the weight machines as the gun fired several more times and then the door was yanked shut.

"Son of a bitch!" Moiré snapped out as she grabbed her pistol belt that was lying on her gym bag and pulled her pistol out. She was up and running for the door before she finished chambering the first round. Yanking it open, she saw the body of her marine guard lying dead on the floor with several folders and papers scattered on the floor. Listening she heard the sound of someone running to her right and she was about to chase after the assassin but stopped.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You're an admiral not a marine," Moiré said aloud as she grabbed the handset off the wall and dialed a number that would connect her to all marines on duty.

"Attention all marines on deck forty-one, seal the deck from the other decks. Someone tried to assignation me and killed my marine guard. I want the deck searched for the culprit. Check every person for gun residue on their hands. Send a CSI unit to my gym," Moiré ordered as she hung up the phone.

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**Planet Virgon;**

**City of Hadrian;**

Deep under the city hundreds of survivors were huddling in the deep shelter built during the first war. Meant to hold fifty thousand survivors for two years, it was crammed full with a hundred thousand survivors of the attack. They had been trapped here for nine months and hope was failing. For the last few days, the colonial marines in charge had been watching the Cylons removing the rubble from the main elevator shaft by using old pinhole cameras that had been installed forty years before. The Cylons had already clear parts of the upper levels.

Lieutenant Commander Huck Almeria watched the dozen monitors showing the Cylons clearing the main elevator shafts. On a secondary set of monitors showed the secondary shafts being cleared out. They were now on level five and trying to clear out the debris from the collapsed level four.

"They get in here, it's going to be a blood bath," Lieutenant Mark Ginseng said as he adjusted his broken arm.

"I know. Nothing we can do to stop it if they do. I am hoping they think that the lower levels collapsed along with the ones we blew," Huck said as he reached out and typed some commands into the monitoring station. The camera's started shifting to other cameras hidden in the ruined city. The cameras shifted to show Remembrance Park and they could see the crater from the blown levels.

"Looks like more of those skin jobs have shown up," Mark said as he pointed to a group of the human like Cylons that were gathered by one of the park's memorials.

"I see them. Looks like two different females and a new male… Hey zoom in on his face," Huck ordered.

"Yes, Sir," Mark said as he typed several commands into the computer and the camera lens swirled and focused on the man.

"Shit!" Huck said and turned to the door, opening it he leaned out and whispered in one of the guard's ears, "Sergeant, I want you to take twenty marines and arrest Doctor Gillis. Put him in the brig. I want him alive, but be careful, he's a skin job."

"Yes, Sir," the guard said and quickly left.

Huck closed the door and turned back to the monitors as the shifted to show the damaged space port that was being repaired by the Cylons. Hovering above the port was a first war Baseship.

"Damn what I would do for a pair of nukes," Mark said as he examined the ship.

"I know. Did you send the picture of that new skin job over to the other shelters," Huck asked.

"Yes, I did," Mark replied.

"Good," Huck said as the camera's shifted again to show shelter nine and his stomach started to turn as he looked at the rotting bodies scattered around the room. Thirty thousand survivors were slaughtered two months ago when the Cylons broke into the Baker coastal shelter. The Marines and city militia had fought to the last man and woman, blowing hundreds of the mechanized robots to shreds, but it wasn't enough as they were overrun by them. They had fought level by level, falling back to the last bastion, a massive dry-dock that originally held twenty-nine submarines. The subs had evacuated twenty-three thousand survivors to a reactivated underwater city that they had been shut down, but the rest had fought tooth and nail to allow the children and twelve thousand adults to get to safety. Before the Cylons broke into the dock, the survivors blew the main doors, flooding the massive docks.

Huck sat down and thought of the other three shelters. Each had seventy thousand survivors from the attack and the Cylons knew nothing about them because the original main elevator shafts had been sealed up thirty years ago. Ten years ago the Hadrian city council had redrilled new shafts using the subway system to prevent the news from getting out. When the attack happened, people were rushed into the underground subways so they assumed to have some protection from the bombings. What they got instead was directions by the city militia to the three disguised elevator shafts. After the last tunnel was emptied and as many survivors of the bombing of the city were rescued from above ground, the subway tunnels were blown, collapsing them on top of the shafts.

"Commander, look at monitor three," Mark shouted.

Huck's eyes jerked to the monitor and his eyes went wide at what he was seeing, "What the frak is going on?" as he stood up and crossed the room to the monitors.

"I don't know but it looks like their leaving," Mark stated.

On the screen it showed several hundred heavy raiders either sitting on the main landing port or landing. Lines of Cylons were lining up to board the crafts and then they were flying up to the Baseship that was above the city. Some of the raiders flew pass the Baseship and out of sight.

"Let's not get our hopes up," Huck said as he watched the monitor.

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_**First Edited By **_

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


	20. Chapter 18

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**Depot Veil**

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**Chapter Eighteen**

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**The Cylons were created by Man.**

**They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.**

**And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.**

**After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.**

**The Cylons left for another world to call their own.**

**A remote space station was built...**

**...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.**

**Every year, the Colonials send an officer.**

**The Cylons send no one.**

**No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...**

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**Until Now.**

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**Outside the old Veil Entrance****;**

_**Baseship 2727;**_

Anthony Cavil stood at the command console with his hand in the data stream. System information poured into his enhanced mind as he directed the thirty-seven Baseships, forty-eight Supportstars and twenty-one destroyers to spread out along the Veil. Every ship in the fleet had its sensors scanning the veil for the entrance to the hidden depot. Thousands of Raiders were searching as well along with the length of the gas clouds.

Anthony looked at the displacement of the ships and raider. With a feral grin he said, "Launch."

Every Raider that was deployed turned towards the veil and unleashed their onboard missiles. Twenty-two thousand Raiders launched four ten kiloton nuclear missiles as each Baseship, Supportstars and Destroyer flushed their nuclear ordnance into the veil. One hundred and thirteen thousand nuclear missiles were launched in the first wave and the veil erupted into a nuclear holocaust. When the explosions settled that segment of the veil was ripped apart, no enemy ships or remains were seen through the scan but the heavy radiation prevented the Cylon fleet from entering so they used probes to check for any sign of the humans.

"Anything?" Anthony asked as he watched the rest of his people work.

"Nothing, just the remains of the defense satellites that were destroyed at the start of the war, there's not even a sign of our missing ships from the first attack," a number six call Jasmine reported.

"Move us to the secondary firing position and prepare to fire," Anthony ordered.

"It will take twenty minutes for all ships to arrive at their attack position," Jasmine replied as she sent out the orders to the fleet and Raider squadrons.

The ships and Raiders moved on to a new section of the Veil and prepared to fire another wave of missiles.

**.**

**1*1*1**

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**Depot Veil;**

**35 days after return from Caprica;**

**11 months after the attack:**

Admiral Moiré Hays looked up as the chime on her door sounded. Getting up from the couch where she had been sitting reading a worn copy of murder mystery she walked to the door and opened it. Standing on the other side of the door was her second in command Admiral Mark Torrez.

"Evening Ma'am, sorry to disturb you so late but I took a chance to see if you were awake," Mark said as he came to attention.

"Mark, come on in. I was just relaxing with a book," Moiré replied as she opened the door wider.

"Thank you, Ma'am," Mary said as he stepped into the room and his boss closed the door behind him.

Moiré turned and walked to the small bar and pulled two glasses out, "Caprican Whiskey?" she asked.

"That's fine Ma'am," Mark replied as he sat down.

Moiré filled the two glasses and carried them to the couch. Handing her second in command one of the glasses she sat down in her arm chair. Taking a sip of the whiskey she asked, "So what's up?"

"I've been going through the ship reports from the fleet and what we stole from the Cylon communications and I have determined the fate of all the Battlestars in the fleet but five. Well three really, because we know the _Pegasus_ is out there fighting the Cylons and the _Galactica_ is leading her people away from the colonies with half the Cylon fleet chasing them. It's the _Illustrious_, _Formidable_, and _Indomitable._ The _Illustrious_ was a member of Battle group Eighty-one under Admiral Horatio Hanson while the _Formidable_ and _Indomitable_ were under Admiral Sara Nigel of Battlegroup thirty-seven and on long range survey of the Zodiac belt. The _Illustrious_ is a _Mercury_ class Battlestar while the _Formidable_ and _Indomitable_ are _Valkyrie_ class.

"The two _Valkyrie_ class ships seemed to be missing from where BG-37 was destroyed when the Cylons went back to verify that they were gone and I know they were not recovered by us. So I'm assuming they could be out there hiding or jumping away. The _Illustrious_ was supposed to receive the upgrades to her CNP program but was delayed by one of the other ships in the fleet and was at Beltane Station when two Cylon Baseships jumped in. They destroyed the _Implacable_ and the _Indefatigable_ when they shut down their systems but the _Illustrious_ was able to destroy both attacking Baseships but was reported heavily damaged to both landing bays and most of her sub-light engines. She is assumed destroyed but the Cylons have or had six Baseships looking for her. If the _Illustrious_ got away, she got away with a lot of equipment and ships that were at Beltane Station and if the _Illustrious_ is leading them away, there could be anywhere between twenty to sixty ships with her. As to Beltane Station, she was destroyed by scuttling charges or that's what the Cylons think when they scanned the wreckage of the station."

"Have some long range stealth Raptors prepared to jump to Beltane and scan the wreckage. There may be a fleet buoy there that could have some message for us. Now what about the 'Peace Brigade' do you have anything new to report on them?" Moiré asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. We have been able to infiltrate six cells of them and they are reporting everything they can to their handlers. We have identified one of their top people, a Mister Richard Dent of Dent construction from Picon. His family was on vacation aboard the liner _Picon_ _Sunset_. CID has installed surveillance cameras and listing devices inside his cabin and they place a micro tracker/transmitter in all his shoes. If he meets with anyone or travels to any other ship, we'll know about it. His wife seems to be unaware of them, but we're still watching them. We do know who killed your marines. It was a Corinth Blackwell of Virgon. We have security looking for him, but as many ships as we have in the fleet he could be anywhere…"

The station's alarms started blaring stopping Mark's reported.

**.**

**1*1*1**

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**Sixty-Two AU's from Caprica;**

**Zodia Belt;**

**Battlestar ****_Illustrious_****;**

**11 months after the attack:**

Commander Harold Henderson watched the Dradis screen as his ship moved through the asteroid field. Sitting back in his chair, he thought of everything that had happened over the last eleven months. First they had fought at what was now called the Battle of Beltane Station and now they were hidden inside the far reaches of the asteroid belt repairing the damages they had sustained in the attack. The original attack had wrecked both of the landing bays launching facilities that had to be rebuilt from scratch which had taken five months of hard work.

During the attack, her air wings had been gutted, losing one hundred and forty of her two hundred Vipers. Even with six of her eight sub-light engines wrecked and one of her two FTL coils scrammed they had caused heavy damage to the attacking Cylons. The final hit had been a ten kiloton nuclear war head that had taken out her long range communications array and the electrical surge had shot through the com system frying every computer along the way up and to the com stations in the CIC.

After the attack, they had recovered seventy-five Vipers from the battlefield and from Beltane station. With the remaining sixty Vipers of the reserve forces and the seventy-five had given them enough vipers for six full squadrons and fifteen reserves along with twenty-three Raptors.

With the death of Admiral Horatio Hanson command of the _Illustrious_ fell to Commander Harold Henderson. Thinking fast, he had ordered Beltane station evacuated along with as much supplies as possible to the _Illustrious_ and the thirty-six civilian ships that had been in the system when it was attack. Before they jumped away, the two _Octopus_ tugs that had been assigned to the station had latched onto the largest remains of the two destroyed battlestars and brought them with them. Of the _Implacable_ only the engine section survived the explosion that had ripped the central magazine apart while the _Indefatigable_ main hull and her portside landing bay survived intact because the _Indefatigable_ had been hit on her starboard flank with eight twenty-five kiloton nukes that ripped the central part of the ship along with the starboard flight pod to shreds. Two thirds of the _Indefatigable _died in the attack and the rest suffered heavy radiation injuries.

The fleet had jumped to the Hyperion Nebula to hide and do some repairs to the four surviving warships of the fleet and organize the civilian ships into some type of order. The remaining fleet units consisted of two _Circe _class _Patrolstars_ in the _Gunstars _configuration_,_ the _Firestar_ class frigate _Osiris_ and the old _Medusa_ repair ship built on a _Gunstar_ hull which was built forty years before during the first war and sold to Beltane Station to do repairs to ships that stopped there_._

The civilian fleet consisted of the _Albatross_ class medical frigate _Phoebastria_, ten passenger liners, two tankers the _Berge Carolina_ and _Berge Tender_, two _Octopus_ tugs, four mining ships, two flattop repair/foundry ships, ten freighters, two _Agro_ ships and the refinery ship _Berge Norlina_. The combined civilian count was eighty-nine thousand with the passenger liners packed full of survivors with fourteen thousand from Beltane Station. While hiding in the Nebula, something strange was discovered when forty-eight civilians became sick with what looked like radiation poisoning. Within forty-eight hours, the first one had died and the rest were quickly transferred to the _Phoebastria_ for medical treatment where they were discovered to be identical twins. As each died from unknown causes that were later determined to be acute radiation poisoning from the Nebula that they were identified as Cylons.

Howard moved the fleet deeper into the belt that drifted through the Nebula and found a small planetoid that had been mined out during the first war and wiped out by the Cylons during the uprising. During the forty years the asteroid had drifted along with the rest of the space junk, and into the nebula where it was lost due to the passage of time. It would take another ten years before the asteroid exited the nebula. Needing a base and a place to house the survivors, they started rebuilding the mining facility and parking the ships inside the hollowed out segment that was just large enough to hide the fleet from any ship that passed by.

After finding this home, Howard sent out his Raptors in groups of four and they had found dozens of battle sights. The most promising had two crippled Battlestars and the remains of a dozen other warships. The crippled Battlestars were the _Formidable_ and _Indomitable_ which were of the _Valkyrie_ class and both had been sabotaged from inside. The two ships had every airlock blown and the ships crews were killed when the atmosphere had been sucked out into space while the rest of the fleet had been wiped out by nuclear fire. Why the two ships had been spared, he had no idea but he had plans for the two smaller ships. Dispatching his two tugs, the repair ship and both flattop carriers for salvage and recovery along with the _Illustrious_ for cover he watched as the two disabled Battlestars were grappled and jumped away as the repair ship and the flattops moved in and started recovering as much as possible from the debris field.

During the first three days, they had successfully recovered thirty-seven large pieces of the ten destroyed ships along with thirty-nine Vipers and five Raptors that had been shut down by the CNP program. Unfortunately the crews were KIA and were buried with full honors along with the thirty-six hundred crew of the two Battlestars.

Leaving a pair of Raptors and six Heavy Lifters to watch the battle sight and search for more salvage the fleet headed home. While the Heavy lifters jumped out with smaller segments of debris the Raptor watched for any sign of the Cylons and to listen for any Colonial transmission but there was no sign or contact. That was until ten days later when a trio of Raiders popped in did a quick scan for the disabled Battlestars. Not detecting the ships, they jumped out not even doing a detailed scan. The Heavy Lifters and one of the Raptors immediately jumped right after them. Thirty minutes later three Baseships arrived and stayed for forty-eight hours sending waves of Raiders out searching for the missing ships.

While the remaining Raptor landed on a nearby asteroid and watched the Cylon fleet search through the remains of the destroyed fleet in a different part of the belt, three more Raptors were leading nine civilian ships into the Nebula and to the asteroid where they were hiding. They consisted of the water tanker _Oceanic_, two Caprican liners _Delphi Flower_ and _Gypsy Rose_, three large freighters (_Jack_ _Corbin_, _Castro_, and the _Hyper_,), the fleet Tylium tanker _Mendoza_, the Agro ship _Xenon_, and the mining ship _Colossus_ with another fourteen thousand Colonial and civilian personal.

Inside the asteroid they turned one of the long mining shafts into a manufacturing plant by using the _Indefatigable_ plants that they pulled from the interior of the ship. For base metal they started stripping the remains of the _Indefatigable_ and stacking up the armor to help repair the _Illustrious_ if they needed too. Using the manufacturing abilities of the _Illustrious_ and the newly set up plants inside the asteroid, they built several hundred Mark VII Vipers and forty more Mark IV Raptors to defend the asteroid and to man the _Formidable_ and _Indomitable_ which took eighty Vipers each.

. Using the hanger pulled from the destroyed _Indefatigable_ they mounted it to the inside of the asteroid cavern for a Viper and Raptor base by using the repair ship _Medusa_. Her surviving gun turrets were detached and removed from the hull. Using several bore machines recovered from the facility, they dug a series of tunnels and ammunition magazines and installed the guns on the outer surface near the entrance to the cavern as a deterrent to prevent any craft to force their way inside. Blast doors were later installed to prevent a blowout of all the guns emplacements.

Plans were drawn up to dig out the back section of the asteroid and install the _Indefatigable _and the_ Implacable_ engine rooms to give the asteroid a way to move around the belt, but that was a long term job.

Recruiting through the civilian ships and the displaced personal from Beltane Station they were able to man the two ships and the asteroid weapons, but what they needed was training and they could only get limited training while hiding in the Nebula but he wasn't going to risk his people or their surviving warships so the best plan he could was mix up the crews and use his experienced people to train the less trained people.

Taking the newly manned _Formidable_ and _Indomitable _with the_ Illustrious_ to the edge of the nebula, Howard sent out a few stealth Raptors to check on the enemy and the disposition of their fleet. He was looking for an easy attack that his three Battlestars could use as a training mission. Turning from the Dradis station he headed for the table he had installed in the back of the CIC. Coming to a stop he looked at the five other commanders of the remaining Colonial fleet and two civilians.

Commander Laura Black commanded the _Formidable_; she was his former executive officer while the _Indomitable_ was commanded by Commander Josh Welling of the _Gunstar_ _Brilliant_ when Howard pulled him for command of the last Battlestar. The _Patrolstars Brilliant_ was now commanded by Colonel Lydia Ashton. Commander Zaria Grange commanded the _Patrolstars Hudson_ while Colonel Greg Hillman frigate _Osiris. _While Captain Marcus Hasp had command of the _Challenge_ and Captain Beth Grimes of the _Security_ commanded the two tugs.

"Gentleman and Ladies, thank you for coming," Howard said and then continued as the men and women nodded their heads as they sipped their coffee.

"Basically this will be a training mission for all six ships warships and if anything comes up we can grab, then Beth and Marcus will be called in to get what we find. The one thing I need to tell you all is we need to fight as a team. We spent the last four months training what we could, and reduced enough of the belts asteroids to powdered dust, but we need actual combat to see what we can do. I don't want anyone of you to sacrifice your commands, so if the damage gets to bad, you're to jump back to the nebula and get your butts back to the asteroid. You are not to stick around. Greg, you will keep the _Osiris_ here to act as rear guard. I know you want to fight, but your ship is to fragile…"

"Sir, I am a colonial officer and so are all my people. We deserve the chance to fight back. My ship may not be a Battlestar but we can put out some firepower along with our forty Vipers," Greg stated as he looked across the table at his superior officer as a com tech walked over.

"Sir, Raptor 6373 has returned from scouting Libran and reports two Baseships in orbit of the planet," the ensign reported handing the clipboard to Commander Henderson.

"Thank you Ensign," Harold replied as he took the clipboard and started reading.

Placing the clipboard under his arm, he flipped the maps on the table out of the way until he found Libran and said, "Hand me two Baseship models and some raiders."

Lydia pulled out the box of models and picked up two of the Baseships, "Here you go, Sir."

"Thank you Lydia," Howard replied as he looked at the clipboard and said, "Raptor 6373 reports the first Baseship is here over Themis while the second is near the remains of the Libran Station. There are currently twenty groups of five raiders in flight around the planet. Some are entering the atmosphere and attacking places up in the mountains while the rest cover them. There are the remains of two _Mercury_ class Battlestars near Libran station along with what looks like forty to fifty civilian ships. The names of the two Battlestars are unknown at this time, but..."

"Sir, what are you thinking?" Greg asked.

Howard rubbed his chin as he thought of what to do, looking at the two Battlestars he knew that they were far enough apart that it could cause heavy damage to the fleet if they allowed both to launch their Raiders. As he looked at the map a plan quickly formed in his mind.

"How many Raptors do we have?" he asked.

"Sixty-seven at this time," Commander Josh Welling replied.

"Ok, I want them armed with ship killers. Here's what we're going to do. The Raptors will jump in here near the remains of the Libran Station and launch all of their missiles at the Baseship there. They will be followed by the _Brilliant, Hudson_ and _Osiris_ to help take them out. The _Formidable_ and _Indomitable _with the_ Illustrious_ will jump over here and take the second Baseship under attack. Two minutes after we jump in the tugs will jump in where the _Patrolstars_ and _Osiris_ are and try and latch onto those two wrecked Battlestars. Yes I know they are graves but they have stuff we need and jump out with them to the Nebula. We will then leave them there for several days to allow the radiation to take out any Cylons on board, or that's the plan. Once the two tugs jump back, we will reform up and see what comes our way. If they Cylons act like they did in the first war they will send several Baseships in first to destroy us. I figure our six ships can take out the first wave but if they send in a massive response, we fire every one of our main guns with AP rounds and then jump away. I'd rather run then risk our only fleet units," Howard stated.

"Sounds good. I know my people want revenge," Commander Laura Black said as she looked at the map.

"We all do. Beth, Marcus, how fast can you latch onto those two cripples?" Howard asked.

"Are they tumbling?" Beth asked.

"The report doesn't say," Howard replied as he looked at the paper on the clipboard.

"Well if they're not tumbling, then ten minutes at most if the docking jump ports are clear on the stern. It also depends on how far away they are when we jump in," Marcus said in his deep gruff voice.

"Sounds good to me. Ok, everyone, let's get back to our ships and get our Raptors prepped for combat," Howard ordered.

Howards watched the five commanders leave the room and then turned to his officers, "You heard the plan. Let's get moving. Captain White, I want all our combat Raptors prepped for a fast jump and attack. Target is the Baseship near the old Libran civilian space station. All Raptors will be loaded with eight Mark Four Grail anti-capital ship missiles. Colonel Knells I want all guns prepped for firing with AP rounds. All point defenses are to be fully manned. Nuclear ordnance is not authorized at this time."

Captain Agatha White turned and looked up from her clipboard she had been writing on and replied, "Yes, Sir. I have fourteen Raptors configured for combat with six more in SAR mode. All vipers are being prepped for launch as well as the reserves."

"Good. Mark, status on the guns?" Howard asked his second in command.

"Sir, main batteries are loading up AP rounds now. I have ordered the main bow guns to stick with those rounds while all remaining batteries will switch after three rounds to FLAK rounds in case they launch Raiders," Colonel Mark Knells reported.

"Good, contact all ships and prepare to jump in ten minutes. Raptors jump in nine minutes thirty seconds," Howard ordered as the FTL clock started counting down.

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**1*1*1**

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**Orbit of Libran;**

**Debris field;**

**11 months after the attack:**

The Battlestar nearest the planet was in a stationary orbit of the planet launching conventional missiles towards the planet, targeting the smaller towns that inhabit the mountain range. The heavy missiles were being used to flush the survivors out of their hidden encampments and deny the humans food that was left in the towns. The second Baseship was acting as its guard with a quarter of its Raider wing hidden inside the debris field. The Raiders that were deployed were just heading for their landing bays to refuel and cycle through the rotation when thirty flashes of light appeared around the Baseship and thirty Raptors appeared. The Raptors turned towards the Baseship and the first of two hundred and forty missiles were launched.

Raiders started boiling out of the debris field and the Baseships' landing bays as the ships missile batteries started launching. As the missiles slammed into the central part of the ship, Raptors started dying as the Cylon Raiders opened fire. The sudden appearance of two _Circe_ class _Patrolstars_ and the _Firestar_ caught the Cylons by surprise and the opened fire with all their weapons as forty Mark VII Vipers launched from the _Osiris_. The point defense weapons caught the Cylon Raiders in a cross fire between all three ships and they were swatted from the sky as the medium KEWs fired into the hull of the Baseship. Before the Cylon ship could adjust its fire, explosions started ripping the megaton ship apart as its Tylium reserves exploded under armor piercing rounds.

The second Baseship started launching its eight hundred Raiders as it closed on the three colonial vessels. Three large flashes had the _Illustrious, Formidable_ and _Indomitable_ appear around the Baseship. The _Illustrious_ appeared behind the huge star shaped ship with the _Formidable_ appeared to starboard and the _Indomitable_ to port. All three of their bows were pointing at the ship and all three ships opened fire with their heavy KEWs.

"Keep on target, take out that bitch! Launch all Vipers!" Howard snapped out his orders as the _Illustrious_ shuddered under several hits to her bow.

"Firing the main guns again," Mark reported as an explosion lit up one of the far monitors.

"What was that?" Howard ordered.

"The _Formidable_ took a nuke to her bow. All bow mounted guns are off line… Baseship is breaking up. Raiders are starting to jump out," came the reports from around the bridge.

On the Dradis screen the Cylon Baseship vanished and was replaced by hundreds of icons as it blew apart.

"Baseship two destroyed," came over the com system.

"Cease fire. Dispatch SAR units if needed. Helm, plot a course to the recovery units…"

"Tugs have jumped in," came the next report as the point defense guns shut down.

"Land all damaged Vipers the rest are to remain on CAP. Get me a damage report on the _Formidable_. Get me a Viper loss count," Howard ordered.

"Sir, Commander Black reports seventy KIA, two hundred and ten WIA and twenty MIA so far. All bow mounted weapons are off line and the bow has a thirty meter hole in the front armor. She reports the nuke was a thirty megaton weapon and it hot the main Dradis dish and that's what saved them since it didn't hit the hull directly. Flight bays are fully operational and they're recovering their Vipers."

"Sir, between the three Battlestars we lost twenty-seven Vipers and have beacons on fifteen pilots," reported the executive CAG who wasn't able to fly due to a healing broken arm.

"Thanks CAG, dispatch all available SAR Raptors to their location. Let's get those stranded pilots back onboard," Howard ordered.

"Sir, the _Osiris_ reports one destroyed Baseship and the destruction of three hundred and twenty Raiders. Fourteen of the thirty combat Raptors were destroyed or damaged during the attack. They have suffered five Viper losses and recovered two pilots. They have also found twenty-six disabled Vipers, three Raptors and a single refuler in the debris field. They have ordered the Raptors to tow the ships to her landing bays. They have also launched all six Heavy Lifters to latch on to some cargo containers that register as full and ask we dispatch ours," came the reports from the other ships.

"Order the launching of all Heavy Lifters, they are to latch onto any cargo container and jump them back to our original position. Lower the main screen, I want to see what's out there," Howard ordered.

The main screen lowered and they watched as it cycled through the cameras showing the fleet regrouping. The attack had happened in less than ninety seconds and two megaton warships were destroyed along with hundreds of Cylon Raiders for just minor damage to the ships in the fleet. The screen stopped moving as one of the camera's locked onto the _Challenge_ closing on the _Mercury_ class Battlestar. The second Battlestar that had been identified as a _Mercury_ was actually a _Jupiter_ the forerunner of the _Mercury_ class. _Security_ had already locked onto the stern of the giant ship and was deploying the towing arms.

"Sir, Captain Grimes' reports that she was have the Vesper under tow in five minutes as soon as the towing arms are latched on," reported the communications officer.

"What about the _Challenger_?" Howard asked as he looked at the Dradis screen and saw the Heavy Lifters vanishing into FTL with their locked on cargo.

"Three minutes till they can latch on to the primary tow bar. They had to cut a piece of metal out of the way that was jammed into the main engine intake," came the report.

"Very well," Howard replied as he counted the time down in his mind and then said, "Have all ships spool up their FTL's just in case."

"Sending the orders now to all ships."

Time continued to fly by as the Heavy Lifters jumped in again and six of them latched onto a _Botanical Ship_ that had her engine room blown off but her domes looked intact. Three minutes after the damaged Botanical ship vanished into FTL, twenty-five more Heavy Lifters reappeared and started landing on the drifting hulk of an _Ebba Maersk Class Supper Freighter_ that had her bow jammed into the midsection of a _Fork_ class freighter. The Heavy lifters quickly used their wireless system to lock all their FTL drives together and started powering them up for a large jump.

The Dradis screen started flashing and Howard looked at it. Four Cylon Baseships, three destroyers and two of the old Cylon Baseships had appeared at sixteen thousand kilometers.

"Ok that's it, tell everyone to jump that can. It's time to drop your panties and pick up the ammo, we have company," Howard snapped out.

The fleet turned towards the enemy with the _Illustrious_ in the lead flanked by her two smaller cousins. The two _Patrolstars_ and the _Osiris_ stacked themselves above the thee Battlestars. The reserve Vipers from the _Valkyries_ were launched along with the _Osiris_ remaining ones.

"Range," Howard asked.

"Fifteen thousand and closing," came the reply.

"Fire all main batteries," Howard ordered.

"We're out of range," Colonel Mark Knells said as he looked up at his boss.

"I know, but they are closing, and so our rounds have to travel a little further than normal. They may still hit…"

"Baseships are launching Raiders and Heavy Raiders…"

"_Security_ has jumped away. _Challenger_ reports they can jump in thirty seconds. Heavy Lifters have jumped away…"

The lead Baseship staggered as a round tore into one of its arms and exploded. The AP round hit one of the magazines and detonated the stored missiles.

"We have a hit… looks like heavy damage to one of their top missile arms," came the report.

"Heavy Lifters have jumped away with the Fork and Ebba… Challenger is gone."

Howard was watching the main screen as the lead Baseship took two more hits and was about to comment when Mark called out.

"More Dradis contacts. Eight and climbing, all Baseships," Mark reported.

Howard jerked his head back to the Dradis screen and snapped out his orders as he saw he was being flanked, "Land all Vipers and have the Patrolstars to jump now."

Sending now…"

"Incoming missiles, six hundred in the first wave…"

"More of them to Port, looks like eight more," Mark reported.

"I see them. Get me a count on our Vipers. As soon as the last one is down, we jump. Tell the _Formidable_ to jump in twenty seconds. Order all her remaining Vipers to land on…"

"_Osiris_ has jumped. Missiles are three thousand meters and closing…"

The radiological alarm started blaring as nuclear missiles were detected in the incoming wave.

"_Formidable_ has jumped…"

"Open fire with all point defense weapons," Howard ordered.

The night sky of Libran lit up as hundreds of rounds of Flak rounds detonated in the incoming wave of missiles. Swatting dozens of them from space as they closed on the two remaining ships as their smaller defenders landed on the four flight pods. Of the first wave of missiles, twenty got through the thick barrage of shrapnel and slammed into the _Illustrious, _thankfully none of them were nuclear and only minimum damage was done to the starboard flight pod. The second wave of missiles never had a chance as they were targeted by both Battlestars as the _Indomitable_ had rose above her larger cousin and added her starboard weaponry to the _Illustrious_ fire power while her portside battery tried to wipe out the incoming wave.

"Last Viper landing now," came the report from the executive CAG.

"Tell the _Indomitable_ to jump once she's gone we'll jump," Howard ordered as he watched the hundreds of missiles closing on his command from starboard and port as well as directly ahead of them. In all eight thousand missiles were in the air.

"_Indomitable_ has jumped…"

"Missile inbound, ten seconds to hit!"

"Brace for impact…"

"A nuclear fireball erupted off the portside as the missile hit the armored side of the ship. The Illustrious staggered under the hammer hit and her crew went flying as the twenty-five megaton hit shattered armored plate, scorched the armor and flames ripped down the closing portside landing bay, incinerating the twenty nearest Vipers.

Howard used the Dradis station to pull himself up to his feet as he shouted out, "Jump us."

Three conventional missiles hit the portside destroying one of the heavy KEW mounts as the helm officer clawed himself back up into his chair and he reached for the key and turned it.

_Illustrious _vanished into FTL as thousands of missiles flew into the debris field and blew apart anything that they hit.

**.**

**1*1*1**

**.**

**Depot Veil;**

**40 days after return from Caprica;**

**11 months after the attack:**

Admiral Mark Torrez looked at the report that just came in from the probes they had seeded in the home systems with stealth raptors. Picking up the nearest handset, he said, "Get me the Admiral."

Hanging up the set he continued to read the report that had been printed out as he waited. He was just flipping the page when the handset buzzed and he picked it up.

"Moiré here,"

"Admiral, I have a report here that you need to hear," Mark reported.

"Go ahead Mark," Moiré ordered.

"Four days ago, sensor probes that we seeded around Libran detected the arrive of the Battlestars _Illustrious, Formidable_ and _Indomitable_ along with two Patrolstars the _Hudson_ and _Brilliant_ along with the Firestar _Osiris_. They attacked and destroyed two Baseships before the Cylons brought in twenty plus warships. They damaged one of the arriving Baseships with long range heavy fire while two civilian ships recovered two crippled Battlestars. Damage was detected on the _Illustrious _and the_ Formidable_ before all eight ships FTL'ed away. Where they went we don't know. What do you wish to do?"

"The question is Mark, are they ours or the Cylons. Even thought those three ships are reported as possibly still manned by colonial troops, do we risk contacting them and leading the Cylons right back here?" Moiré asked and Mark didn't know how to answer.

"Mark, prepare the stealth ships and send them out. They are to jump around, no com signals. They are to use minium power to scout…"

The alarm started sounding as the perimeter Dradis screens went active.

"What's going on?" Moiré asked.

"Checking Ma'am," Mark replied and then he shouted out, "What is it?"

"Sir, twenty three missiles just came out of the nebula. Sensors report they are nuclear armed but they seem to be drifting…"

"Crap," Mark whispered and then he said, "Dispatch Raptors to use their magnetic arms to slow the missiles down. Once they are stopped we'll send a recovery ship to turn tow them out of the pocket."

Lifting the handset to his ear, Mark reported what was going on, "Ma'am, perimeter sensors have detected twenty-three nuclear armed missiles coming out of the nebula…"

"Frak I was afraid of that. It looks like the Cylons are launching missiles into the nebula to scare us out. Have all ships pulled away from the walls and have Vipers fly a combat patrol around the edges. If any missiles is detected it's to be destroyed before it gets too far into the pocket. Notify all commands on what is going on," Moiré ordered.

"Pocket generator 2268 has been hit and destroyed. 2267 and 69 are compensating for the loss of that satellite. A new satellite has been dispatched from Veil two to fill the hole," came a report.

"Sensors have detected multiple nuclear detonations in the Nebula…"

"I'll be right up," Moiré said as she hung up her handset.

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.


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